The 

Adventures 

c 


Captain 

> 

>'Shea 


Ralph  D.  Paine 


EX 

IBPU 

RHO&A 


BOOKS  BY  RALPH   D.   PAINE 

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THE  ADVENTURES  OF 
CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF 
CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 


BY 

RALPH   D.   PAINE 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1913 


COPYRIGHT,  1913,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  September,  1913 


o<^ 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


I.  THE  CASTAWAYS  ..........       3 

II.  THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  .......    133 

III.  THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"     .     .     .     .     .     .     .195 

IV.  THE  BRANDED  MAN      ........    250 


• 


THE    ADVENTURES   OF 
CAPTAIN   O'SHEA 


THE   ADVENTURES  OF 
CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

THE  CASTAWAYS 


WHEN  the  Cubans,  led  by  Gomez  and  Maceo, 
were  waging  their  final  rebellion  against  the  imme 
morial  tyranny  of  Spain,  it  may  be  recalled  that 
there  was  much  filibustering  out  of  American  ports, 
and  a  lively  demand  for  seafaring  men  of  an  intrepid 
temper  who  could  be  relied  on  to  keep  their  eyes 
open  and  their  mouths  shut.  Such  a  one  was  young 
Captain  O'Shea,  and,  moreover,  he  was  no  amateur 
at  this  ticklish  industry,  having  already  "jolted  one 
presidente  off  his  perch  in  Hayti,  and  set  fire  to  the 
coat-tails  of  another  one  in  Honduras,"  as  he  ex 
plained  to  the  swarthy  gentlemen  of  the  Cuban 
Junta  in  New  York,  who  passed  on  his  credentials. 

They  gave  him  a  sea-going  tug  called  the  Fear 
less,  permitted  him  to  pick  his  own  crew,  and  told 
him  where  to  find  his  cargo,  in  a  fairly  lonesome 
inlet  of  the  Florida  coast.  Thereafter  he  was  to 
work  out  his  own  salvation.  The  programme  was 
likely  to  be  anything  else  than  monotonous.  To 

3 


4  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

be  nabbed  by  a  Yankee  cruiser  in  home  waters  for 
breaking  the  laws  of  nations  meant  that  Captain 
O'Shea  would  cool  his  heels  hi  a  Federal  jail,  a  mis 
hap  most  distasteful  to  a  man  of  a  roving  disposi 
tion.  To  run  afoul  of  the  Spanish  blockading  fleet 
in  Cuban  waters  was  to  be  unceremoniously  shot 
full  of  holes  and  drowned  in  the  bargain. 

Such  risks  as  these  were  incidental  to  his  trade, 
and  Captain  O'Shea  maintained  his  cheerful  com 
posure  until  the  Fearless  had  taken  her  explosive 
cargo  on  board  and  was  dropping  the  sandy  coast 
line  of  Florida  over  her  stern.  Then  he  scrutinized 
his  passengers  and  became  annoyed.  The  Junta 
had  sent  him  a  Cuban  colonel  and  forty  patriots, 
recruited  from  the  cigar  factories  of  Tampa  and 
Key  West,  who  ardently,  even  clamorously,  desired 
to  return  to  their  native  land  and  fight  for  the  glo 
rious  cause  of  liberty. 

Their  organization  was  separate  from  that  of  the 
ship's  company.  It  was  not  the  business  of  Captain 
O'Shea  to  enforce  his  hard-fisted  discipline  among 
them,  nor  did  he  have  to  feed  them,  for  they  had 
brought  their  own  stores  on  board.  Early  in  the 
voyage  he  expressed  his  superheated  opinion  of  the 
party  to  the  chief  engineer.  The  twain  stood  on  the 
little  bridge  above  the  wheel-house,  the  clean-built, 
youthful  Irish- American  skipper,  and  the  beefy,  gray- 
headed  Johnny  Kent,  whose  variegated  career  had 
begun  among  the  Yankees  of  'way  down  East. 

The  deep-laden  Fearless  was  wallowing  through 
the  uneasy  seas  of  the  Gulf  Stream.    The  Cuban 


THE  CASTAWAYS  5 

patriots  were  already  sea-sick  in  squads,  and  they 
lay  helpless  amid  an  amazing  disorder  of  weapons, 
blankets,  haversacks,  valises,  and  clothing.  Now 
and  then  the  crest  of  a  sea  flicked  merrily  over  the 
low  guard-rail  and  swashed  across  the  pallid  sufferers. 

"Did  ye  ever  see  such  a  mess  in  all  your  born 
days?"  disgustedly  observed  Captain  O'Shea.  "And 
we  will  have  to  live  with  this  menagerie  for  a  week 
or  so,  Johnny." 

"It'll  be  a  whole  lot  worse  when  all  of  'em  are 
took  sea-sick,"  was  the  discouraging  reply.  "Dog 
gone  'em,  they  ain't  even  stowed  their  kits  away. 
They  just  flopped  and  died  in  their  tracks.  Why 
don't  you  make  their  colonel  kick  some  savvey  into 
'em,  eh,  Cap'n  Mike?" 

"Colonel  Calvo?"  and  O'Shea  spat  to  leeward 
with  a  laugh.  "He  is  curled  up  in  the  spare  state 
room,  and  his  complexion  is  as  green  as  a  starboard 
light.  There  is  one  American  in  the  lot.  Wait  till 
I  fetich  him  up." 

A  deck-hand  was  sent  into  the  dismal  chaos,  and 
there  presently  returned  in  his  wake  a  lean,  sandy 
man  in  khaki  who  clutched  an  old-fashioned  Spring 
field  rifle.  At  a  guess  his  years  might  have  been 
forty,  and  his  visage  had  never  a  trace  of  humor  in 
it.  Much  drill  had  squared  his  shoulders  and  flat 
tened  his  back,  and  he  stiffly  saluted  Captain  O'Shea. 

"Who  are  you,  and  what  are  ye  doing  in  such 
amazin'  bad  company?"  asked  the  latter. 

*'My  name  is  Jack  Gorham,  sir.  I  served  four 
enlistments  in  the  Fifth  Infantry,  and  I  have  medals 


6  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

for  marksmanship.  The  Cubans  took  me  on  as  a 
sharp-shooter.  They  promised  me  a  thousand  dol 
lars  for  every  Spanish  officer  I  pick  off  with  this 
old  gun  of  mine.  I  have  a  hundred  and  fifty  rounds. 
You  can  figure  it  out  for  yourself,  sir.  I'll  be  a  rich 
man." 

"Provided  ye  are  not  picked  off  first,  me  hopeful 
sharp-shooter.  Are  there  any  more  good  men  in 
your  crowd?" 

The  old  regular  dubiously  shook  his  head  as  he 
answered: 

"There's  a  dozen  or  so  that  may  qualify  on  dry 
land.  The  rest  ain't  what  you'd  call  reliable  com 
rades-in-arms." 

"Oh,  they  may  buck  up,"  exclaimed  Captain 
O'Shea.  "Look  here,  Gorham,  you  can't  live  on 
deck  with  those  sea-sick  swine.  Better  go  for'ard 
and  bunk  with  my  crew." 

Jack  Gorham  looked  grateful,  but  firmly  declared: 

"Thank  you,  sir,  I  belong  with  the  Cuban  outfit, 
and  I'll  take  my  medicine.  It  would  make  bad 
feeling  if  I  was  to  quit  'em.  They  are  as  jealous 
and  touchy  as  children.  I  have  a  tip  for  you. 
There  is  one  ugly  lad  in  the  bunch,  the  big,  black 
nigger  settin'  yonder  on  the  hatch.  They  tell  me 
he  comes  from  Colombia  and  left  there  two  jumps 
ahead  of  the  police." 

They  gazed  down  at  the  powerful  figure  of  the 
negro,  whose  tattered  shirt  disclosed  swelling  ridges 
of  muscle  and  more  than  one  long  scar  defined  hi 
pink  against  the  shining  black  skin.  Thick-lipped, 


THE  CASTAWAYS  7 

flat-nosed,  he  was  the  primitive  African  savage  whose 
ancestors  had  survived  the  middle  passage  in  the 
hold  of  a  Spanish  slaver.  He  was  snarling  and 
grumbling  to  a  group  of  Cubans,  and  Captain  O'Shea 
pricked  up  his  ears. 

"Raising  a  row  about  the  grub,  is  he?  'Tis  a 
pity  he  could  not  be  sea-sick  early  and  often." 

"Why  don't  you  crack  him  over  the  head  with  a 
belayin'-pin  just  for  luck?"  amiably  suggested  the 
chief  engineer.  "It  would  sweeten  him  up  consid 
erable." 

"I  am  carrying  them  as  passengers,  you  blood 
thirsty  old  buccaneer,"  retorted  O'Shea.  "I  must 
keep  me  hands  off  till  they  really  mix  things  up. 
But  I  do  not  like  the  looks  of  the  big  nigger.  He 
is  one  of  your  born  trouble-hunters." 

"You  take  my  advice  and  beat  him  up  good  and 
plenty  before  he  gets  started,"  was  the  sage  farewell 
of  Johnny  Kent  as  he  lumbered  below  to  exhort  his 
oilers  and  stokers. 

The  night  came  down  and  obscured  the  hurrying 
tug  whose  course  was  laid  for  the  Yucatan  passage 
around  the  western  end  of  Cuba.  The  lights  of  a 
merchant-steamer  twinkled  far  distant  and  Captain 
O'Shea  sheered  off  to  give  her  a  wide  berth.  He  had 
no  desire  to  be  sighted  or  reported. 

To  him,  keeping  lookout  on  the  darkened  bridge, 
came  his  cook,  a  peaceable  mulatto  who  had  a  griev 
ance  which  he  aired  as  follows: 

"Please,  cap'n,  them  Cubans  what  ain't  sea-sick  is 
actin'  powerful  unreasonable.  I  lets  'em  heat  their 


8  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

stuff  and  make  coffee  in  my  galley,  but  I  ain't 
'sponsible  for  th'  rations  they  all  draws.  That  big, 
black  niggah  is  stirrin'  'em  up.  Jiminez,  they  calls 
him.  At  supper-time  to-night,  cap'n,  he  tried  to 
swipe  some  of  th'  crew's  bacon  and  hash,  and  I 
had  to  chase  him  outen  th'  galley." 

"All  right,  George.  I  will  keep  an  eye  on  him  to 
morrow,"  said  the  skipper.  "Between  you  and  me 
the  Cuban  party  did  not  bring  enough  provisions 
aboard  to  run  them  on  full  allowance  for  the  voyage. 
There  was  graft  somewhere.  But  I'm  hanged  if  they 
can  steal  any  of  my  stores.  We  may  need  every 
pound  of  them.  I  will  see  to  it  that  your  galley 
isn't  raided.  And  if  this  big  bucko  Jiminez  gets 
gay  again,  give  him  the  tea-kettle  and  scald  the 
black  hide  off  him — understand?" 

"Yes,  suh,  cap'n;  I'll  parboil  him  if  you'll  look 
out  he  don't  carve  me  when  he's  done  recuperated." 

The  cook  descended  to  his  realm  of  pots  and  pans 
while  Captain  O'Shea  reflected  that  the  voyage 
might  be  even  livelier  than  he  had  anticipated. 
With  calm  weather  his  forty  passengers  would  re 
cover  their  appetites  and  demand  three  meals  per 
day.  They  might  whine  and  grumble  over  the 
shortage,  but  without  a  leader  they  were  fairly 
harmless. 

"I  will  have  to  lock  horns  with  the  big  nigger 
before  he  gets  any  more  headway,"  soliloquized 
Captain  O'Shea. 

For  once  he  heartily  desired  high  winds  and  rough 
seas,  but  the  following  morning  brought  weather  so 


THE  CASTAWAYS  9 

much  smoother,  that  the  pangs  of  hunger  took  hold 
of  the  reviving  patriots,  who  arose  from  the  coal- 
sacks  and  crowded  to  the  galley  windows.  The 
cook  toiled  with  one  eye  warily  lifted  lest  the  for 
midable  negro  from  Colombia  should  board  him 
unawares. 

Captain  O'Shea  leaned  over  the  rail  of  his  bridge 
and  surveyed  the  scene.  Black  Jiminez  was  making 
loud  complaint  in  his  guttural  Spanish  patois,  but 
his  following  was  not  eager  to  encounter  the  rough- 
and-tumble  deck-hands  of  the  Fearless,  besides  which 
the  prudent  cook  hovered  within  easy  distance  of 
the  steaming  tea-kettle. 

To  the  amusement  of  Captain  O'Shea,  it  was  that 
lathy  sharp-shooter  of  the  serious  countenance,  Jack 
Gorham,  who  took  it  upon  himself  to  read  the  riot 
act  to  the  big  negro.  He  regarded  himself  and  his 
duty  with  a  profound,  unshaken  gravity.  Jiminez 
overtopped  him  by  a  foot,  but  pride  of  race  and 
self-respect  would  not  permit  him  to  knuckle  under 
to  the  black  bully. 

"Will  ye  look  at  the  Gorham  man?"  said  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  to  the  chief  engineer  who  had  joined 
him.  "He  is  bristlin'  up  to  the  nigger  like  a  terrier 
pup.  And  Jiminez  would  make  no  more  than  two 
bites  of  him." 

"How  can  the  soldier  do  anything  else?"  ex 
claimed  Johnny  Kent.  "He's  the  only  white  man 
in  the  bunch." 

"I  may  as  well  let  him  know  that  I  am  backin' 
his  game,"  observed  the  other.  He  sang  out  to 


io         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Gorham,  and  the  veteran  infantryman  climbed  to 
the  bridge,  where  he  stood  with  heels  together,  hat 
in  hand.  His  pensive,  freckled  countenance  failed 
to  respond  to  the  captain's  greeting  smile. 

"Unless  I  am  mistaken,  Gorham,  ye  have  it  in 
mind  to  tackle  a  job  that  looks  a  couple  of  sizes 
too  large  for  you.  Will  ye  start  a  ruction  with 
Jiminez?" 

"Until  the  colonel  gets  on  his  legs  I'm  the  man 
to  take  charge  of  the  party,  sir,"  answered  the  sol 
dier,  reflectively  rubbing  the  bald  spot  which  shone 
through  his  thinning  thatch  of  sandy  hair. 

"But  I  expect  to  take  a  hand,"  petulantly  de 
clared  the  captain.  "This  is  my  ship." 

"Excuse  me,  sir"  and  Gorham's  accents  were 
most  apologetic.  "This  is  your  ship,  but  it  ain't 
your  party.  The  patriots  are  a  separate  command. 
The  big  nigger  belongs  to  me.  If  I  don't  discour 
age  him,  I  lose  all  chance  of  winnin'  promotion  in 
the  Cuban  army.  If  he  downs  me,  I'll  be  called  a 
yellow  dog  from  one  end  of  the  island  to  the  other. 
I  intend  to  earn  my  shoulder-straps." 

"And  you  will  climb  this  big,  black  beggar,  and 
thank  nobody  to  interfere?"  asked  the  admiring 
Captain  O'Shea. 

"It  is  up  to  me,  sir." 

"You  strain  me  patience,  Gorham.  If  ye  have 
any  trinkets  and  messages  to  send  to  your  friends, 
better  give  them  to  me  now." 

Said  the  chief  engineer  when  the  soldier  was  out 
of  ear-shot: 


THE  CASTAWAYS  II 

"Does  he  really  mean  it,  Cap'n  Mike?  He'll  sure 
be  a  homely-lookin'  corpse." 

"Mean  it?  That  lantern-jawed  lunatic  wouldn't 
know  a  joke  if  it  hit  him  bows  on." 

"Will  you  let  him  be  murdered?" 

"We  will  pry  the  big  nigger  off  him  before  it  goes 
as  far  as  that.  Have  ye  not  learned,  Johnny  Kent, 
that  it  is  poor  business  to  come  between  a  man  and 
his  good  intentions,  even  though  they  may  be  all 
wrong?" 

Later  hi  the  day  Captain  O'Shea  sought  the  state 
room  of  the  prostrate  Colonel  Calvo.  The  sea  was 
a  relentless  foe  and  showed  him  no  mercy.  Feebly 
moving  his  hands,  he  turned  a  ghastly  face  to  the 
visitor  and  croaked: 

"I  have  no  interes'  in  my  mens,  hi  my  country, 
in  nothings  at  all.  I  am  dreadful  sick.  I  will  not 
live  to  see  my  Cuba.  She  will  weep  for  me.  The 
ship,  she  will  sink  pretty  soon?  I  hope  so." 

"Nonsense,  colonel,"  bluffly  returned  O'Shea. 
"The  weather  couldn't  be  finer.  A  few  days  more 
of  this  and  ye  will  be  wading  in  Spanish  gore  to 
your  boot-tops.  I  want  to  ask  about  your  stores. 
Your  men  are  growlin'.  Who  is  hi  charge  of  the 
commissary?" 

"Talk  to  me  nothings  about  eats,"  moaned  the 
sufferer.  "Why  do  anybody  want  eats?  Come  to 
morrow,  nex'  day,  nex'  week.  Now  I  have  the  wish 
to  die  with  peace." 

"The  sooner,  the  better,"  said  the  visitor,  and 
departed. 


12         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  Fearless,  with  explosives  in  the  hold  and  in 
flammable  humanity  above-decks,  pursued  her  hard- 
driven  way  through  another  night  and  turned  to 
double  Cape  San  Antonio  and  enter  the  storied  waters 
of  the  Caribbean.  Black  Jiminez  had  failed  to  play 
the  role  expected  of  him  and  the  discontent  of  the 
patriots  focussed  itself  in  no  open  outbreak.  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  was  puzzled  at  this  until  the  mate 
came  to  him  and  announced  that  the  Cubans  had 
broken  through  a  bulkhead  in  the  after-hold  and 
were  stealing  the  ship's  stores.  This  accounted 
for  their  good  behavior  on  deck.  The  leader  of 
the  secret  raiding  party  was  the  big  negro  from 
Colombia. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  my  business,"  softly 
quoth  the  skipper,  and  his  gray  eyes  danced  while 
he  pulled  his  belt  a  notch  tighter.  "But  I  must 
play  fair  and  ask  permission  of  the  melancholy 
sharp-shooter  before  I  proceed  to  make  a  vacancy 
in  the  Jiminez  family." 

The  interview  with  Gorham  was  brief.  The  cap 
tain  argued  that  by  breaking  through  a  bulkhead 
and  pilfering  the  crew's  provisions,  the  large  black 
one  had  invaded  the  O'Shea  domain.  The  soldier 
held  to  it  with  the  stubbornness  of  a  wooden  In 
dian  that  his  own  self-respect  was  at  stake.  O'Shea 
lost  his  temper  and  burst  out: 

"If  ye  are  so  domned  anxious  to  commit  suicide, 
go  and  get  him  and  put  him  in  irons.  I  will  give 
you  a  decent  burial  at  sea,  though  ye  don't  deserve 
it,  you  pig-headed  old  ramrod." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  13 

"The  moral  effect  will  be  better  if  I  get  him," 
mildly  suggested  the  soldier. 

The  Cubans  had  learned  that  trouble  was  in  the 
wind.  Their  stolen  supplies  were  to  be  cut  off  and 
this  meant  short  rations  again.  Angry  and  rebel 
lious,  only  a  spark  was  needed  to  set  them  ablaze. 
When  eight  bells  struck  the  noon  hour  they  surged 
toward  the  galley,  making  a  great  noise,  displaying 
their  sea-rusted  machetes  and  rifles.  In  the  lead 
was  Jiminez,  a  half-clad,  barbaric  giant  who  waved 
a  heavy  blade  over  his  head  and  shouted  impreca 
tions.  The  purpose  of  the  mob  was  to  rush  the 
galley  and  carry  off  all  the  food  in  sight. 

The  crew  of  the  Fearless  liked  not  the  idea  of 
going  dinnerless.  When  the  excited  patriots  charged 
forward,  there  quickly  rallied  in  front  of  the  deck 
house  fourteen  earnest-looking  men  equipped  with 
Mauser  rifles  broken  out  of  the  cargo.  In  a  wheel- 
house  window  appeared  the  head  and  shoulders  of 
Captain  O'Shea.  His  fist  held  a  piece  of  artillery 
known  as  a  Colt's  forty-five.  In  the  background  of 
the  picture  was  the  resourceful  Johnny  Kent,  who 
was  coupling  the  brass  nozzle  of  the  fire-hose. 

Jiminez  had  decided  to  declare  war.  He  appealed 
to  the  patriots  to  use  their  weapons,  but  they  showed 
a  prudent  reluctance  to  open  the  engagement.  One 
of  them,  by  way  of  locating  the  responsibility  for 
the  dispute,  pulled  a  revolver  from  a  holster  and 
took  a  snap-shot  at  the  cook. 

"I  guess  I'd  better  turn  loose  this  hose  and  wash 
'em  aft,  Cap'n  Mike,"  sung  out  the  chief  engineer. 


14         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"  George  is  a  darned  good  cook  and  it  ain't  right  to 
let  these  black-and-tans  pester  him." 

Captain  O'Shea  bounded  from  the  bridge  to  the 
deck,  and  the  crew  of  the  Fearless  welcomed  him 
with  joyous  yelps.  Instead  of  giving  them  the  ex 
pected  order  to  charge  the  Cubans  hammer-and- 
tongs,  he  made  for  Jiminez  single-handed.  His  in 
tention  was  thwarted.  Between  him  and  the  burly 
negro  appeared  the  spare  figure  of  Jack  Gorham, 
who  moved  swiftly,  quietly.  With  courteous  into 
nation  and  no  sign  of  heat  he  affirmed: 

"This  is  my  job,  sir.  It's  about  tune  to  put  a 
few  kinks  in  him." 

The  manner  of  the  man  made  Captain  O'Shea 
hesitate  and  feel  rebuked,  as  though  he  had  been 
properly  told  to  mind  his  own  business.  With  a 
boyish  grin  he  slapped  Gorham  on  the  back  and 
said: 

"I  beg  your  pardon  for  intrudin'.  'Tis  your 
funeral." 

Although  the  mob  behind  Jiminez  failed  to  catch 
the  wording  of  this  bit  of  dialogue,  they  compre 
hended  its  import.  The  extraordinary  composure 
of  the  two  men  impressed  them.  They  felt  more 
fear  of  them  than  of  the  embattled  deck-hands. 
The  tableau  lasted  only  a  moment,  but  a  singular 
silence  fell  upon  the  ship. 

Big  Jiminez  nervously  licked  his  lips  and  his  blood 
shot  eyes  roved  uneasily.  It  was  apparent  that  he 
had  been  singled  out  as  the  leader,  and  that  the 
sad-featured  American  soldier  in  the  sea-stained 


THE  CASTAWAYS  15 

khaki  viewed  him  as  no  more  than  an  incident  in 
the  day's  work. 

Captain  O'Shea  had  stepped  back  to  join  his  own 
men.  Jack  Gorham  stood  alone  in  a  small  cleared 
space  of  the  deck,  facing  the  truculent  negro.  The 
Cubans  began  to  edge  away  from  Jiminez  as  if  com 
prehending  that  here  was  an  issue  between  two  men. 
The  soldier  had  for  a  weapon  that  beloved  old  Spring 
field  rifle,  but  he  made  no  motion  to  shoot. 

Presently  he  sprang  forward,  with  the  heavy  butt 
upraised.  The  negro  swung  his  machete  at  the 
same  instant  and  the  blade  was  parried  by  the  steel 
barrel.  The  mob  had  become  an  audience.  It  lost 
its  menacing  solidarity  and  drifted  a  little  way  aft 
to  make  room  for  the  combatants.  Instead  of  riot 
or  mutiny,  the  trouble  on  board  the  Fearless  had  de 
nned  itself  as  a  duel. 

The  veteran  regular  handled  the  clubbed  rifle  with 
amazing  ease  and  dexterity.  The  wicked  machete 
could  not  beat  down  his  guard,  and  he  stood  his 
ground,  shifting,  ducking,  weaving  in  and  out, 
watching  for  an  opening  to  smash  the  negro's  face 
with  a  thrust  of  the  butt.  Once  the  blade  nicked 
Gorham's  shoulder  and  a  red  smear  spread  over  the 
khaki  tunic. 

Jiminez  was  forced  back  until  he  was  cramped 
for  room  to  swing.  His  machete  rang  against  a 
metal  stanchion  and  the  galley  window  was  at  his 
elbow.  His  black  skin  shining  with  sweat,  his 
breath  labored,  the  splendid  brute  was  beginning 
to  realize  that  he  had  met  his  master.  From  the 


1 6         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

tail  of  his  eye  he  observed  that  the  Cubans  no 
longer  thronged  the  passageway  between  the  deck 
house  and  guard-rail.  He  turned  and  ran  toward 
the  stern. 

Gorham  was  after  him  like  a  shot.  In  his  wake 
scampered  the  crew  of  the  Fearless  intermingled 
with  the  Cubans,  all  anxious  to  be  hi  at  the  finish. 
Jiminez  wheeled  where  the  deck  was  wide.  He  was 
not  as  formidable  as  at  first.  Fear  was  in  his  heart. 
He  had  never  fought  such  a  man  as  this  insignifi 
cant-looking  American  soldier,  who  was  unterrified, 
unconquerable.  Gorham  ran  at  him  without  an  in 
stant's  hesitation,  the  rule  gripped  for  a  downward 
swing.  The  machete  grazed  his  head  and  chipped 
the  skin  from  the  bald  spot. 

Before  Jiminez  could  strike  again,  the  butt  smote 
his  thick  skull  and  he  staggered  backward.  Caught 
off  his  balance,  his  machete  no  longer  dangerous, 
he  was  unable  to  avoid  the  next  assault.  Gorham 
moved  a  step  nearer  and  deftly  tapped  his  adver 
sary  with  the  rule-butt.  It  was  a  knock-out  blow 
delivered  with  the  measured  precision  of  a  prize- 
ring  artist.  The  machete  dropped  from  the  negro's 
limp  fingers  and  he  toppled  across  two  sacks  of  coal 
with  a  sighing  grunt. 

The  crew  of  the  Fearless  broke  into  a  cheer.  The 
mate  on  duty  in  the  wheel-house  let  the  vessel  steer 
herself  and  scrambled  to  the  bridge,  where  he 
was  clumsily  dancing  a  jig.  The  Cubans  chattered 
among  themselves  in  subdued  accents,  and  from  the 
state-room  door  peered  the  wan  countenance  of  Colo- 


THE  CASTAWAYS  17 

nel  Calvo,  who  was  wringing  his  hands  and  sputter 
ing  commands  to  which  nobody  paid  the  slightest 
attention. 

Jack  Gorham  stood  swaying  slightly,  leaning  upon 
his  Springfield,  and  wiped  the  blood  from  his  eyes 
with  the  back  of  his  hand.  A  moment  later  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  had  both  arms  around  him  and  was 
bellowing  in  his  ear: 

"We  will  hoist  ye  into  a  bunk,  Jack.  Oh,  but 
you  are  the  jewel  of  a  fightin'  man!  I  hope  ye  were 
not  hurt  bad." 

"Nothing  to  speak  of,  sir,  but  my  wind  isn't  what 
it  was,"  panted  Gorham.  "Better  look  after  the 
nigger  first.  I  didn't  plan  to  kill  him." 

The  chief  engineer  was  dragging  the  hose  aft  with 
the  praiseworthy  intention  of  washing  down  the  com 
batants,  and  the  captain  told  him  to  turn  the  cool 
salt-water  on  the  prostrate  bulk  of  the  negro. 

"I'll  play  nurse  to  him  if  you  haven't  spoiled  him 
entirely,"  said  Johnny  Kent.  "I  need  more  help 
down  below  and  he'll  make  a  dandy  hand  with  a 
coal-shovel  when  his  head  is  mended." 

Just  then  the  mate,  who  had  returned  to  the 
wheel,  yelled  to  Captain  O'Shea  and  jerked  the 
whistle-cord.  The  skipper  ran  forward  and  bolted 
into  the  wheel-house.  With  a  flourish  of  his  arm 
the  mate  indicated  a  small  boat  lifting  and  falling 
on  the  azure  swells  no  more  than  a  few  hundred 
yards  beyond  the  bow  of  the  tug.  The  occupants 
were  vigorously  signalling  by  means  of  upraised  oars 
and  articles  of  clothing. 


1 8         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  captain  rang  the  engine-room  bell  to  slacken 
speed  and  stared  at  the  boat-load  of  castaways  which 
had  none  of  the  ear-marks  of  shipwreck  and  suffer 
ing.  The  white  paint  of  the  boat  was  unmarred  by 
the  sea  and  the  handsome  brass  fittings  were  bright. 
Two  seamen  in  white  clothes  were  at  the  oars,  and 
in  the  stern-sheets  were  two  women  and  a  young 
man  who  could  not  be  mistaken  for  the  ordinary 
voyagers  of  a  trading- vessel's  cabin. 

"I  ought  to  have  called  you  sooner,  sir,"  sheep 
ishly  confessed  the  mate  of  the  Fearless,  "but  I  was 
watching  the  shindy  on  deck,  same  as  all  hands  of 
us.  What  do  you  make  of  it?" 

"It  looks  like  a  pleasure  party,"  said  Captain 
O'Shea.  "I  am  puzzled  for  fair." 

He  ordered  the  engines  stopped  and  the  Fearless 
drifted  slowly  toward  the  boat.  The  ship's  com 
pany  flocked  to  the  rail  to  see  the  castaways,  who 
gazed  in  their  turn  at  the  picturesque  throng  of 
twentieth-century  buccaneers — the  swarthy,  un 
shaven  Cubans  with  their  flapping  straw  hats,  bright 
handkerchiefs  knotted  at  the  throat,  their  waists 
girded  with  cartridge-belts,  holsters,  and  machete- 
scabbards — and  the  sunburnt,  reckless  rascals  of  the 
crew. 

There  were  symptoms  of  consternation  in  the 
small  boat  as  it  danced  nearer  the  crowded  rail  of 
the  Fearless,  also  perceptibly  less  eagerness  to  be 
rescued.  This  was  making  a  choice  between  the 
devil  and  the  deep  sea.  It  was  now  possible  to  dis 
cern  that  of  the  two  women  in  the  stern  of  the  boat 


THE   CASTAWAYS  19 

one  was  elderly  and  the  other  girlishly  youthful. 
Both  wore  white  shirt-waists  and  duck  skirts,  and 
the  young  man  was  smartly  attired  in  a  blue  double- 
breasted  coat,  of  a  nautical  cut,  and  flannel  trousers. 
One  might  have  supposed  that  the  party  was  being 
set  ashore  from  a  yacht  instead  of  tossing  adrift  hi  a 
lonely  stretch  of  the  Caribbean  beyond  sight  of  land. 

Captain  O'Shea  surveyed  them  with  a  dismayed 
air.  He  was  not  equipped  for  the  business  of  res 
cuing  shipwrecked  people  of  such  fashionable  ap 
pearance;  and  as  for  taking  two  women  on  board 
the  Fearless,  here  was  a  complication  to  vex  the 
soul  of  an  industrious,  single-minded  filibuster. 
However,  he  was  a  sailor  and  an  Irishman,  and  his 
honest  heart  responded  to  the  appeal  of  femininity 
in  distress.  The  steps  were  hung  over  the  tug's  side 
to  make  the  transfer  from  the  boat  as  easy  as  pos 
sible,  and  a  deck-hand  stood  ready  with  a  coil 
of  heaving-line.  From  the  bridge  Captain  O'Shea 
hailed  the  derelicts. 

"For  the  love  of  heaven,  who  are  you  and  where 
do  ye  come  from,  so  spick  and  span?  What  is  it 
all  about,  anyhow?" 

The  young  man  in  the  stern  answered  in  some 
what  nettled  tones: 

"It  seems  more  to  the  point  to  ask  who  you  are. 
We  are  in  a  deucedly  bad  fix,  and  these  ladies  ought 
to  be  taken  aboard;  but  do  you  mind  if  I  ask  whether 
you  intend  to  make  us  walk  the  plank?  My  word, 
but  you  are  a  frightfully  hard-looking  lot.  Is  Cap 
tain  Kidd  with  you?" 


20         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

It  was  0' Shea's  turn  to  be  ruffled,  and  he  flung 
back: 

"You  seem  mighty  particular  about  your  com 
pany.  "Pis  a  nuisance  for  me  to  bother  with  ye 
at  all." 

"Oh,  the  ladies  can't  drift  about  in  this  open 
boat  any  longer,"  the  young  man  hastened  to  ex 
claim.  "I  shall  pay  you  handsomely  to  set  us 
ashore  at  the  nearest  port." 

"And  what  would  I  be  doing  in  the  nearest  port?" 
the  skipper  muttered  with  a  grin.  "Well,  there  is 
no  sense  in  slingin'  words  to  and  fro.  Let  them 
come  aboard  and  find  out  for  themselves." 

Running  to  the  rail  to  assist  these  unwelcome 
guests,  he  called  to  the  self-possessed  young  man  in 
the  boat: 

"How  long  have  ye  been  adrift?" 

"Since  midnight.  Our  yacht  ran  on  a  reef  and 
broke  her  back.  Before  daylight  we  lost  sight  of 
the  other  boats." 

Captain  O'Shea  said  nothing  more.  His  interest 
veered  to  the  girl,  who  had  been  shielding  her  face 
from  the  blistering  glare  of  sun  and  sea.  Now,  as 
she  looked  up  at  the  tug  which  towered  above  the 
boat,  the  impressionable  skipper  perceived  that  her 
face  was  fair  to  see,  and  that  she  smiled  at  him  with 
friendly  confidence.  Presently  he  was  lending  her  a 
steadying  hand  as  she  clung  to  the  swaying  rail  of 
the  tug  and  found  foothold  on  the  steps  over  which 
the  waves  washed. 

"You  are  a  plucky  one  and  no  mistake!"  exclaimed 


THE  CASTAWAYS  21 

Captain  O'Shea.  "A  man  might  think  ye  enjoyed 
it." 

"I  do,"  said  she,  shaking  the  water  from  her  skirt 
as  she  gained  the  deck.  "Now  please  get  my  aunt 
aboard  as  carefully  as  you  can.  She  has  a  touch  of 
rheumatism." 

Without  mishap  the  elderly  lady  was  assisted  to 
accomplish  the  acrobatic  feat  of  forsaking  the  bob 
bing  boat,  after  which  the  young  man  and  the 
sailors  were  allowed  to  shift  for  themselves.  Leather 
hand-bags,  steamer-rugs,  and  canned  provisions  were 
tossed  to  the  deck  and  the  boat  was  turned  adrift, 
for  there  was  no  room  to  stow  it  on  board.  Imme 
diately  the  Fearless  forged  ahead  and  picked  up  her 
course  at  full  speed. 

To  an  elderly  spinster  of  refinement  whose  years 
had  been  spent  in  a  sheltered,  effete  civilization, 
mostly  bounded  by  Massachusetts,  the  deck  of  the 
Fearless  was  an  environment  shocking  beyond  words. 
The  chief  engineer  had  resumed  his  interrupted  task 
of  playing  the  hose  on  the  senseless,  half-naked  bulk 
of  black  Jiminez.  Jack  Gorham,  more  or  less  en 
sanguined,  was  stretched  upon  a  hatch,  where  the 
surgeon  of  the  Cuban  party  had  detained  him  to 
sponge  and  stitch  his  shoulder  and  bandage  his  head. 
Near  by  hovered  the  disreputable  patriots,  begrimed 
with  coal-dust  and  bristling  with  deadly  weapons. 

The  elderly  lady  stared  with  eyes  opened  very 
wide.  Her  lips  moved,  but  made  no  sound,  and  her 
delicately  wrinkled  cheek  grew  pale.  At  length  she 
managed  to  whisper  to  her  niece  that  dread  saying 


22         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

familiar  to  many  generations  of  New  England  spin 
sters: 

"Mercy!    We  shall  all  be  murdered  in  our  beds." 

Captain  O'Shea  joined  them,  to  speak  his  earnest 
reassurances. 

"You  are  as  safe  as  if  you  were  in  Sunday-school, 
ladies.  This  bunch  of  patriots  is  perfectly  harmless. 
There  was  an  argument  just  before  we  sighted  ye, 
and  the  best  man  won." 

"And  what  is  this  voyage  of  yours,  captain?" 
asked  the  girl. 

"Oh,  we  are  just  romancin'  around  the  high-seas. 
'Tis  nothing  that  would  interest  a  lady." 

"Do  you  kill  each  other  every  day?" 

"You  mean  the  big  nigger  yonder?"  and  Captain 
O'Shea  looked  a  trifle  embarrassed.  "No,  his  man 
ners  had  to  be  corrected.  But  will  you  come  for'ard, 
please,  and  make  yourselves  at  home  in  my  room? 
'Tis  yours  as  long  as  ye  are  on  board." 

"I  am  quite  sure  you  have  no  intention  of  mur 
dering  us,"  smilingly  quoth  the  girl.  "And  we  shall 
ask  you  no  more  questions  for  the  present.  Come 
along,  Aunt  Katharine." 

The  young  man  of  the  castaways  was  fidgeting 
rather  sulkily  in  the  background.  He  wished  to  in 
terview  the  captain  at  once,  but  the  gallant  O'Shea 
had  eyes  only  for  the  ladies.  Overlooked  and  ap 
parently  forgotten,  the  shipwrecked  young  man 
picked  his  way  across  the  deck  to  accost  Johnny 
Kent,  whose  first-aid-to-the-injured  treatment  with 
a  hose-nozzle  had  proved  efficacious.  The  van- 


THE  CASTAWAYS  23 

quished  negro  was  rubbing  his  head  and  sputtering 
salt-water  and  Spanish. 

"There,  you're  what  I  call  recussitated  in  bang-up 
good  style,"  cried  the  engineer,  proud  of  his  handi 
work.  "If  you  were  a  white  man,  your  block  'ud 
have  been  knocked  clean  off.  You  ought  to  be 
thankful  for  your  mercies." 

The  castaway  touched  his  arm  and  exclaimed: 

"I  say,  my  good  man,  I  need  something  to  eat, 
and  a  place  to  sleep.  I  was  awake  all  night  hi  an 
open  boat." 

The  stout  person  in  the  greasy  overalls  turned  to 
survey  the  speaker  with  mild  amusement  on  his 
broad,  red  face. 

"By  the  look  of  your  party  you  must  have  suf 
fered  something  awful.  The  skipper  will  attend  to 
you  pretty  soon  and  he'll  do  his  best  to  make  you 
happy.  But  this  ain't  no  gold-plated  yacht,  and  it 
ain't  no  table  dote  hotel." 

"So  I  see,  but  I'll  pay  for  the  best  on  board. 
Really,  money  is  no  object 

Johnny  Kent  chuckled  and  turned  to  wave  the 
nozzle  at  the  negro,  who  was  sitting  up. 

"You  subside,  Jiminez,  or  I'll  dent  this  over  your 
head.  It  ain't  healthy  for  you  to  get  well  too  darned 
fast." 

He  scrutinized  the  castaway  with  a  tolerant,  fa 
therly  air  and  answered  him: 

"Better  stow  that  you-be-damned  manner  of 
yours,  young  man.  We're  outlaws,  liable  to  be 
blown  out  of  water  any  blessed  minute.  Those 


24         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

tarriers  for'ard  had  just  as  soon  throw  you  over 
board  as  not  if  they  don't  like  your  style.  You 
ain't  a  shipwrecked  hero.  You're  an  unavoidable 
nuisance  aboard  this  hooker.  We've  got  other  fish 
to  fry." 

The  young  man  flushed  angrily.  He  was  pleas 
ant-featured,  fair-haired,  of  athletic  build,  his  ac 
cent  suggesting  that  he  had  imported  it  from  Eng 
land.  He  was  conscious  of  his  own  importance  in 
the  world  whose  idols  were  money  and  social  posi 
tion.  Grizzled  old  Johnny  Kent,  who  had  diced 
with  fortune  and  looked  death  between  the  eyes  on 
many  seas,  knew  only  one  distinction  between  men. 
They  were  "good  stuff"  or  they  were  "quitters." 
As  for  money,  to  have  a  dollar  in  one's  pocket  after 
a  week  ashore  argued  a  prudence  both  stingy  and 
unmanly.  Wherefore  he  wholly  failed  to  grasp  the 
view-point  of  the  young  man  who  had  been  wrecked 
in  a  sea-going  yacht. 

Fortunately  Captain  O'Shea  came  back  to  divert 
the  chief  engineer's  outspoken  opinions.  He  called 
the  castaway  aside  to  say: 

"Come  to  the  galley  with  me  and  the  cook  will 
do  his  best  for  ye.  I  will  sit  down  there  and  hear 
your  yarn.  If  you  want  some  clothes,  maybe  I  can 
fit  you  out.  My  men  are  looking  after  your  sailors." 

"This  is  a  filibustering  expedition,  I  take  it,"  ex 
claimed  the  other  as  they  went  forward. 

"I  do  not  admit  it,"  judicially  replied  Captain 
O'Shea.  "I  will  not  turn  state's  evidence  against 
meself." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  25 

When  they  had  perched  themselves  upon  stools 
at  the  galley  table  the  young  man  handed  the 
skipper  his  card,  which  read: 

"Mr.  Gerald  Ten  Eyck  Van  Steen." 

The  recipient  eyed  the  card  critically  and  com 
mented  : 

"Dutch?  I  had  a  Dutchman  as  bos'n  once  and, 
saving  your  presence,  he  was  an  oakum-headed 
loafer.  Now,  how  did  ye  come  to  be  in  these  waters 
and  whose  yacht  was  it?" 

Young  Mr.  Van  Steen  proceeded  to  explain. 

"She  was  the  Morning  Star,  owned  by  my  father, 
the  New  York  banker — the  old  house  of  Van  Steen 
&  Van  Steen.  You  have  heard  of  it,  of  course.  He 
decided  to  take  a  winter  holiday-trip  and  asked  me 
to  go  along — that  is  to  say,  Miss  Forbes  and  me. 
She  is  my  fiancee " 

"You  mean  the  young  one.  And  she  has  signed 
on  to  marry  you?"  broke  in  Captain  O'Shea  with 
marked  interest. 

"Yes.  She  invited  her  aunt,  Miss  Hollister,  to 
make  the  voyage  as  a  sort  of  chaperon.  We  cruised 
to  Barbadoes,  where  my  father  was  called  home  on 
business  and  took  a  mail-steamer  in  a  hurry.  We 
jogged  along  in  the  Morning  Star  until  her  captain 
lost  his  bearings,  or  something  of  the  kind,  and  you 
know  the  rest.  We  were  ordered  into  a  boat,  but 
while  waiting  for  an  officer  and  more  sailors  a  rain- 
squall  came  along — a  nasty  blow  it  was — and  our 
boat  broke  loose,  and  we  couldn't  get  back  to  the 
yacht.  The  wind  was  dead  against  us." 


26         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"The  other  boats  will  be  picked  up,"  observed 
O'Shea.  "You  were  lucky  to  have  such  an  easy 
time  of  it.  Now  comes  the  rub.  What  am  I  going 
to  do  with  ye?  " 

"Chuck  up  your  voyage,"  cheerfully  answered 
Mr.  Van  Steen.  "We  simply  can't  go  knocking 
about  with  you  and  risking  the  ladies'  lives.  And 
think  of  the  hardships.  My  dear  man,  this  tug  is 
no  place  for  a  gentlewoman." 

"It  is  not,"  agreed  O'Shea,  "nor  was  it  meant  to 
be.  Tis  not  ladies'  work  I  have  on  hand.  I  have 
promised  to  deliver  my  cargo  at  a  certain  place  at 
a  certain  time,  and  there  are  men  waitin'  that  need 
it  bad.  Shall  I  break  me  word  to  them?" 

Van  Steen  made  an  impatient  gesture.  He  was 
used  to  dealing  with  men  who  had  their  price. 

"But  you  are  in  this  business  for  money,"  cried 
he.  "And  I  fancy  you  must  have  been  pretty  hard 
up  to  take  such  a  job  and  run  all  these  risks.  Name 
your  figure.  I  can  understand  the  situation.  Res 
cuing  us  is  deucedly  awkward  for  you.  You  don't 
know  what  to  do  with  us.  How  much  do  you  stand 
to  make  on  the  voyage,  and  what  is  the  cargo 
worth?" 

Captain  Michael  O'Shea  leaned  across  the  table 
and  his  fist  was  clenched.  He  did  not  strike,  but 
the  wrath  that  blazed  in  his  eyes  caused  Van  Steen 
to  draw  back.  The  sailor  was  not  much  older  in 
years  than  the  other  man,  but  he  had  battered  his 
way,  not  merely  sauntered  through  life,  and  virile 
experiences  had  so  strongly  stamped  his  features 


THE  CASTAWAYS  27 

that  Van  Steen  looked  effeminate  beside  him.  It 
was  a  masterful  man  that  held  himself  steady  under 
the  provocation  and  replied  to  the  insulting  proposi 
tion  slowly  and  carefully,  as  though  choosing  his 
words : 

"You  heard  me  say  I  had  given  me  word  to  land 
this"  cargo  as  soon  as  ever  I  could,  Mr.  Van  Steen. 
And  on  top  of  that  ye  try  to  buy  me  to  leave  good 
men  hi  the  lurch  and  break  my  word  when  this  stuff 
of  mine  means  life  or  death  to  them.  Ail  the  money 
your  daddy  has  in  his  bank  could  not  make  me  put 
this  ship  one  point  off  her  course  to  set  you  ashore 
until  I  am  good  and  ready.  Do  I  make  meself 
clear?  You  and  your  dirty  money!  This  isn't 
New  York." 

Van  Steen  was  honestly  amazed.  This  lowering, 
flinty-faced  young  skipper  must  be  crazy.  Profes 
sional  filibusters  were  a  kind  of  criminal  recruited 
from  the  roughest  classes.  They  could  have  no 
morals,  no  manners,  none  of  the  sentiments  of  a 
gentleman.  He  ventured  a  final  attempt  and  said 
with  a  nervous  laugh: 

"But  what  if  I  offer  to  buy  the  vessel  outright, 
cargo  and  all,  and  absolutely  protect  you  personally 
against  any  loss  whatever?" 

"I  do  not  like  your  company,"  abruptly  exclaimed 
O'Shea.  "Ye  fill  me  with  sorrow  for  the  rich.  I 
cannot  be  rid  of  you,  but  we  will  not  be  on  good 
terms." 

His  sense  of  humor  saved  the  situation,  and  he 
concluded  with  one  of  his  sunny,  mischievous  smiles : 


28         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"'Tis  terrible  inconvenient  for  both  of  us.  Here 
we  are,  aboard  a  kind  of  a  Flying  Dutchman  that 
must  go  dancin'  and  dodgin'  about  the  high  seas 
with  every  man's  hand  against  her.  And  you  are 
no  more  anxious  to  quit  me  than  I  am  to  see  the 
last  of  you." 

"But — but — it  is  absolutely  impossible,"  stam 
mered  Van  Steen.  "Think  of  the  ladies " 

"They  have  my  room,  and  the  bit  of  an  upper 
deck  will  be  sacred  to  them." 

O'Shea  stepped  to  the  galley  door,  but  Van  Steen 
detained  him  with  a  question. 

"What  about  me?  Can  I  negotiate  for  a  state 
room?  " 

"Yes,  indeed;  it  is  on  the  overhang  with  two  sacks 
of  coal  for  a  mattress,  and  ye  should  be  thankful 
'tis  soft  coal  and  not  anthracite.  Ye  may  find  the 
suite  a  trifle  crowded,  but  by  kicking  a  few  patriots 
in  the  ribs  you  can  make  room  for  yourself." 


II 

IN  the  refuge  of  the  captain's  room  that  distraught 
spinster,  Miss  Hollister,  was  overcome  by  emotions 
almost  hysterical.  Her  first  impressions  of  the  Fear 
less  had  been  in  the  nature  of  a  nervous  shock  more 
severe  than  the  episode  of  the  shipwreck.  Only  the 
presence  of  her  niece  restrained  her  from  tears  and 
lamentations.  Nora  Forbes,  the  young  person  in 
question,  was  behaving  with  so  much  courage  and 


THE  CASTAWAYS  29 

self-possession  as  to  set  her  aunt  a  most  excellent 
example. 

"Oh,  did  you  ever  see  anything  so  dreadful?" 
moaned  Miss  Hollister,  glancing  at  the  captain's 
shaving-glass  and  absently  smoothing  her  gray  hair. 
"There  was  a  dead  negro  stretched  on  deck,  and  a 
white  man  all  covered  with  blood,  and  the  captain 
not  in  the  least  excited,  actually  joking  about  it " 

Miss  Nora  Forbes  artfully  coaxed  her  aunt  away 
from  the  bit  of  mirror  and  proceeded  to  arrange  her 
own  disordered  tresses  as  though  this  were  more 
important  than  damp  skirts  and  wave-soaked  stock 
ings.  With  hairpins  twain  between  her  pretty  lips, 
she  replied,  and  her  accents  were  by  no  means  hope 
less: 

"It  is  just  too  tremendously  romantic  for  words, 
Aunt  Katharine.  I  am  not  the  least  bit  afraid. 
The  captain  may  be  a  desperate  villain,  but  he  car 
ries  himself  like  a  rough-and-ready  gentleman.  This 
is  a  genuine  adventure,  so  cheer  up  and  enjoy  it." 

"But  the  scenes  of  violence — the  crew  of  cut 
throats — the  bloodshed,"  unsteadily  resumed  Miss 
Hollister,  unable  to  refrain  from  dabbing  her  eyes 
with  a  handkerchief.  "I  don't  know  what  to  say. 
My  mind  is  a  blank.  I  can  only  pray " 

"  I  should  advise  unpacking  that  bag  and  getting 
out  some  clean  clothes,"  suggested  Nora.  "There  is 
no  reason  why  we  should  look  like  a  pair  of  drowned 
frights.  It  is  an  upsetting  experience,  Aunt  Katha 
rine,  but  life  on  shore  is  so  tame!" 

"I  shall  be  content  to  be  tame  forevermore,  Nora, 


30         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

if  I  am  permitted  to  survive  this  experience.  I  hope 
Gerald  can  persuade  the  captain  to  land  us  at  once." 

"They  didn't  want  to  rescue  us,  so  we  must  make 
ourselves  as  agreeable  as  possible.  I  intend  to  be 
particularly  nice  to  the  captain." 

Miss  Hollister  was  recalled  to  her  duty  as  Chap 
eron.  Her  manner  was  reproving  as  she  counselled: 

"Be  careful,  Nora,  you  are  a  heedless  girl  at  times 
and  Gerald  is  very  sensitive.  Our  plight  is  too  seri 
ous  for  jesting.  Of  course  you  must  be  civil  to  the 
captain,  but  he  is  a  perfectly  impossible  person. 
Gerald  will  reward  him  for  his  trouble  in  our  behalf. 
We  are  placing  ourselves  under  no  obligations  what 
ever." 

They  were  quite  trim  and  fresh  in  dry  clothes 
when  the  cook  brought  up  a  tray  laden  with  the 
best  fare  the  ship's  stores  could  provide  and  a  pot 
of  coffee  black  and  hot  enough  to  revive  the  most 
forlorn  castaways  that  ever  floated. 

"Th'  cap'n's  compliments,"  said  George,  entering 
with  a  cake-walk  shuffle,  "an'  he  tells  me  to  inform 
you  that  if  th'  grub  is  burnt  or  don't  taste  right 
he'll  hang  me  up  by  mah  thumbs  an'  peel  off  mah 
no-'count  hide  with  a  rope's  end." 

Miss  Hollister  appeared  so  ready  to  believe  the 
worst  that  the  rascally  George  could  not  forbear  to 
add: 

"Of  cou'se,  I'se  jes'  nllin'  in  till  th'  regular  cook 
gits  well.  Mebbe  you  seen  him  when  you  come 
aboard.  He  was  all  spraddled  out.  It  mighty  near 
done  for  big  Jiminez,  I'se  a-tellin'  you." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  31 

"What  happened  to  him?"  breathlessly  demanded 
Miss  Hollister,  her  hands  clasped. 

"He  done  fetch  th'  cap'n  a  cup  of  cold  coffee, 


ma'am." 


"How  awful!  And  what  was  the  matter  with  the 
white  man  hi  the  khaki  uniform?" 

"He  tried  to  say  a  good  word  for  th'  cook.  And 
th'  cap'n  done  give  him  his.  This  is  a  lively  ship, 


ma'am." 


He  could  not  help  grinning  as  he  turned  to  leave, 
and  Nora  Forbes  caught  him  in  the  act. 

"You  are  an  utterly  shameless  prevaricator," 
cried  she,  "and  I  have  a  notion  to  report  you  to  the 
captain." 

"No  need  of  it,"  exclaimed  O'Shea  himself,  who 
appeared  in  time  to  grasp  the  luckless  George  by 
the  neck  and  pitch  him  down  the  stairway  to  the 
lower  deck. 

"He  is  a  good  cook,  but  his  imagination  is  too 
strong  for  him  at  times,"  explained  O'Shea  as  he 
stood  in  the  door-way,  declining  Nora's  invitation  to 
enter.  "The  both  of  ye  look  as  lovely  as  a  May 
morning.  It  agrees  with  you  to  be  shipwrecked." 

Miss  Hollister  thawed  a  trifle,  although  she  was 
strongly  inclined  to  accept  the  cook's  story  as  after 
the  fact.  But  it  was  hard  resisting  the  blarneying 
sailor  with  the  merry  eyes. 

"Is  such  severity  necessary?  I  feel  that  I  ought 
to  protest — "  she  began,  spurred  by  the  prompt 
ing  of  a  New  England  conscience. 

"And  what  was  that  slippery  divil  of  a  cook  de- 
ludin'  ye  about?" 


32         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  spinster  mustered  courage  to  explain.  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  roared  with  glee,  and  turning  to  Nora 
Forbes,  as  if  recognizing  a  sympathetic  listener,  ex 
claimed: 

"Would  ye  know  the  truth  about  the  big  nigger? 
Then  I  will  introduce  you  to-morrow  to  the  man 
that  laid  him  out,  and  a  better  one  never  stood  on 
two  feet  than  this  same  Jack  Gorham,  the  melan 
choly  sharp-shooter  who  captures  'em  alive  with  the 
butt- of  his  gun." 

Afraid  of  delaying  their  meal,  he  made  an  abrupt 
bow  and  vanished  on  deck.  Presently  Mr.  Gerald 
Ten  Eyck  Van  Steen  stood  gloomily  regarding  them. 
Nora  made  room  for  him  on  the  cushioned  locker 
and  cheerily  asked: 

"How  are  you  getting  on  with  the  assorted  pirates? 
Are  they  a  rum  lot  and  do  they  sing  'Fifteen  Men 
on  the  Dead  Man's  Chest'?" 

"I  am  not  getting  on  at  all,"  sadly  quoth  he. 
"I  have  met  only  the  chief  engineer  and  the  cap 
tain,  and  I  should  call  them  a  very  rum  lot  indeed. 
This  is  a  floating  mad-house.  By  Jove !  I  was  never 
so  angry  in  my  life." 

"I  think  I  understand,  Gerald,"  soothingly  ob 
served  Miss  Hollister.  "But  I  am  sure  you  can  ex 
tricate  us  from  this  alarming  situation.  You  are  a 
young  man  of  courage  and  resources  and  the  name 
of  Van  Steen  carries  great  weight  everywhere." 

"This  wild  Irishman  never  heard  of  it,"  said 
Gerald.  "And  when  I  talked  money  he  almost 
crawled  across  the  table  to  assault  me." 

"Then  he  refuses  to  put  us  on  shore  at  once?" 


THE  CASTAWAYS  33 

tremulously  cried  the  chaperon.  "What  do  you 
mean,  Gerald?" 

"He  doesn't  care  a  hang  about  us.  I  made  no 
impression  on  him  at  all.  The  more  I  argued  the 
hotter  he  got.  He  intends  to  carry  us  about  with 
him  until  he  has  dumped  his  cargo  of  guns  some 
where  on  the  Cuban  coast.  And  then  I  presume 
he  will  make  his  way  back  to  the  United  States,  if 
the  tug  isn't  sunk  with  all  hands  in  the  meantime." 

"But  the  captain  can't  afford  to  let  us  interfere 
with  his  plans,"  protested  Nora,  who  looked  by  no 
means  so  unhappy  as  the  circumstances  warranted. 
"Do  be  reasonable,  Gerald.  Aunt  Katharine  and  I 
are  quite  comfortable." 

"I  am  not,"  vehemently  exclaimed  young  Mr. 
Van  Steen.  "The  brute  of  a  skipper  tells  me  I  must 
sleep  on  two  sacks  of  coal.  Fancy  that!" 

"I  am  afraid  you  were  not  tactful,"  was  Nora's 
mirthful  comment. 

"We  are  in  the  captain's  power,"  sighed  Miss 
Hollister. 

"We  are  kidnapped.  That's  what  it  amounts 
to,"  strenuously  affirmed  Van  Steen. 

Later  in  the  afternoon  the  trio  sought  the  railed 
space  on  the  roof  of  the  deck-house,  just  behind  the 
small  bridge  which  was  Captain  0' Shea's  particular 
domain.  The  mate  had  found  two  battered  wooden 
chairs  and  rigged  an  awning.  Such  consideration 
as  this  was  bound  to  dull  the  edge  of  Miss  Hollis- 
ter's  fears  and  she  gazed  about  her  with  fluttering 
interest  and  reviving  animation.  Through  an  open 


34         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

door  they  could  see  Captain  O'Shea  standing  beside 
the  man  at  the  wheel.  He  wore  no  coat,  his  shirt 
sleeves  were  rolled  up  and  displayed  his  brown,  sin 
ewy  forearms,  and  a  shapeless  straw  hat  was  pulled 
over  his  eyes.  His  binoculars  attentively  swept  the 
blue  horizon  ahead  and  abeam. 

Presently  he  went  on  the  bridge  and  searched  the 
shimmering  sea  astern.  His  demeanor  was  not  so 
uneasy  as  vigilant  and  preoccupied.  So  long  did 
he  stand  hi  the  one  position  with  the  glasses  at  his 
eyes  that  Gerald  Van  Steen  became  curious  and 
tried  to  descry  whatever  it  was  that  had  attracted 
the  captain's  notice.  At  length  he  was  able  to  make 
out  a  trailing  wisp  of  brown  vapor,  like  a  bit  of 
cloud,  where  sea  and  sky  met. 

"There  is  some  kind  of  a  steamer  astern  of  us," 
said  Van  Steen  to  Nora  Forbes.  "Perhaps  it  is  a 
German  or  English  mail-boat.  If  so,  I  can  see  no 
objection  to  transferring  us  aboard." 

Captain  O'Shea  overheard  the  remark  and  called 
to  them: 

"No  mail-steamer  is  due  on  this  course.  And  it 
is  not  a  cargo  tramp  or  she  would  not  be  steaming 
faster  than  we  are." 

"Then  what  can  it  be?"  asked  Nora. 

"I  cannot  tell  ye,  Miss  Forbes,  nor  am  I  anxious 
at  all  to  let  her  come  close  enough  to  find  out." 

On  the  lower  deck  the  Cubans  were  flocking  to 
the  overhang  or  climbing  on  the  rail  to  gaze  at  the 
distant  smoke  astern.  They  talked  excitedly,  with 
many  gestures.  Evidently  here  was  an  event  of 


THE   CASTAWAYS  35 

some  importance.  Little  by  little  the  other  steamer 
cut  down  the  miles  of  intervening  space  until  her 
funnel  was  visible.  The  Fearless  had  been  making 
no  unusual  effort  to  increase  her  own  speed,  but  now 
Captain  O'Shea  said  a  few  words  into  the  engine- 
room  speaking-tube,  and  Johnny  Kent  came  trun 
dling  up  from  below,  wiping  his  face  with  a  bunch  of 
waste. 

The  captain  took  him  by  the  arm  and  imparted: 

"I  do  not  like  the  looks  of  her,  Johnny;  she  is  too 
fast  to  be  healthy  for  us.  I  got  the  word  in  New 
York  that  two  of  the  Almirante  cruiser  class  were 
coming  out  from  Spam  to  join  the  blockadin'  fleet 
and  make  it  hot  for  our  business.  There  is  nothing 
on  the  coast  that  can  do  over  twelve  knots,  is  there?  " 

"Only  the  Julio  Sanchez,  Cap'n  Mike,  and  she's 
laid  up  at  Havana  with  her  boilers  in  awful  shape. 
I  suppose  you  want  me  to  hook  up  and  burn  my 
good  coal." 

"I  think  this  is  a  poor  place  to  loaf  in,  Johnny. 
There  was  something  said  about  a  reward  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  the  Spanish  navy  vessel  that 
overhauled  the  Fearless  and  sunk  her  at  sea.  Better 
crack  on  steam  and  maybe  we  can  lose  that  fellow 
yonder  after  nightfall." 

"Aye,  aye,  Cap'n  Mike,  I'll  put  the  clamps  on 
the  safety-valves,  and  take  care  not  to  look  at  the 
gauges.  I'll  need  more  help  below." 

"  Grab  the  deck-hands.     Get  to  it." 

"And  I  was  just  crawlin'  into  my  bunk  to  finish 
the  most  excitin'  novel  you  ever  read,"  mourned 


36         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Johnny  Kent  as  he  footed  it  down  the  ladder.  "It's 
all  about  adventures.  The  situations  are  hair- 
raisin',  Cap'n  Mike." 

Young  Mr.  Van  Steen  had  edged  within  ear-shot 
so  that  he  heard  part  of  this  dialogue.  Returning 
to  the  ladies,  he  thrust  his  hands  in  his  pockets  and 
tried  to  hide  his  perturbation.  Nora  questioned  him 
eagerly,  and  he  answered  with  a  shrug  and  a  laugh : 

"We're  going  to  have  a  race  with  the  steamer 
behind  us.  I  imagine  they  told  a  few  whoppers  for 
my  benefit.  The  chief  engineer  remarked  in  the 
most  casual  way  that  he  intended  to  put  clamps  on 
the  safety-valves.  That  is  absurd,  of  course.  The 
boilers  might  blow  up." 

"I  am  inclined  to  think  he  meant  it,"  said  Nora, 
who  was  looking  at  Captain  O'Shea.  "This  is  not  a 
yachting  cruise,  Gerald." 

"But  if  the  silly  old  ass  of  an  engineer  really 
meant  it,  and  we  are  pursued  by  a  hostile  man-of- 
war,"  stubbornly  persisted  Van  Steen,  "why  did  he 
talk  about  wanting  to  finish  a  novel  because  it  was 
full  of  exciting  adventures?  Isn't  this  exciting 
enough?" 

"You  are  stupid,"  impatiently  exclaimed  Nora. 
"These  extraordinary  men  can't  see  that  they  are 
living  the  most  thrilling  adventures.  It  is  all  in  the 
day's  work  with  them.  I  am  going  to  ask  Captain 
O'Shea  to  tell  me  the  truth." 

Her  aunt  objected,  but  with  no  great  spirit.  Her 
poor,  tired  brain  was  bewildered  by  this  new  turn 
of  events.  She  had  begun  to  hope  to  survive  the 


THE  CASTAWAYS  37 

voyage,  but  now  she  was  beset  by  fresh  alarms,  fan 
tastic  and  incredible.  Imminent  danger  menaced 
the  lawless  tug.  It  could  be  felt  in  the  buzzing  ex 
citement  which  pervaded  the  crowded  decks.  The 
only  calm  place  was  the  bridge,  where  Captain  O'Shea 
walked  steadily  to  and  fro,  six  paces  to  port  and  six 
paces  to  starboard,  a  ragged  cigar  between  his  teeth. 
Already  the  hull  was  vibrating  to  the  increasing 
speed  of  the  engines  and  the  smoke  gushed  thick 
and  black  from  the  hot  funnel. 

Nora  Forbes  had  mounted  the  bridge  before  Van 
Steen  could  make  angry  protest.  Clinging  to  the 
canvas-screened  rail,  she  paused  to  catch  a  bird's- 
eye  glimpse  of  the  swarming  decks  which  spread 
beneath  her  from  the  sheering  bow  to  the  overhang 
that  seemed  level  with  the  following  seas.  Captain 
O'Shea  snatched  a  coat  from  the  wheel-house  and 
flung  it  over  the  girl's  head  and  shoulders,  for  the 
red  cinders  were  pelting  down  from  the  funnel-top 
like  hail.  For  the  life  of  him  he  could  not  keep  the 
caressing  note  out  of  his  pleasant  voice  when  he  was 
talking  to  a  pretty  woman. 

"'Tis  a  bright  day  and  a  fine  breeze,  Miss  Forbes, 
and  the  old  Fearless  is  poundin'  through  it  at  thir 
teen  knots.  Are  ye  enjoying  yourself?" 

"Every  minute  of  it,"  she  replied,  and  the  joy 
of  living  made  her  cheek  glow.  "Are  you  really 
afraid  of  that  steamer  behind  us?  Mr.  Van  Steen 
thought  you  were  joking  with  the  chief  engineer. 
Really  you  can  be  frank  with  me.  I  promise  not  to 
make  a  scene." 


38         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

He  regarded  her  rather  wistfully  for  an  instant, 
felt  unusually  hesitant,  and  told  her  the  truth  be 
cause  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  tell  her  any 
thing  else. 

"If  it  is  a  Spanish  cruiser  yonder,  as  I  mistrust, 
she  may  make  short  work  of  us.  But  she  has  to 
catch  us  first.  And  if  I  was  easy  to  catch  I  would 
not  be  here  at  all.  Sooner  than  risk  a  hair  of  your 
head,  Miss  Forbes,  I  would  give  up  meself  and  my 
ship.  But  a  man's  duty  comes  first." 

"  You  are  not  to  give  me — to  give  us,  one  thought," 
she  warmly  assured  him,  and  her  head  was  held 
high.  "Thank  you  for  being  honest  with  me,  Cap 
tain  O'Shea.  Do  you  wish  us  to  stay  on  deck?" 

Perplexed  and  unhappy,  he  answered: 

"There  is  no  safe  place  to  stow  you  if  the  Spaniard 
gets  within  shooting  range.  The  hold  is  full  of  car 
tridges  and  dynamite  and  such  skittish  truck." 

The  steamer  astern  was  still  slowly  gaining  on  the 
Fearless.  Her  forward  mast  was  now  discernible, 
and  the  tiny  ring  around  it  was  unmistakably  a 
fighting-top.  If  the  vessel  belonged  to  any  other 
navy  than  that  of  Spain,  she  would  be  jogging  along 
at  a  cruising  gait,  instead  of  crowding  in  chase  with 
a  reckless  consumption  of  coal.  Captain  O'Shea 
ran  below  to  see  how  matters  fared  in  the  sooty, 
stifling  kingdom  of  Johnny  Kent.  The  Fearless 
could  not  turn  and  fight.  All  hopes  of  safety  were 
bound  up  in  those  clanking,  throbbing,  shining  en 
gines,  in  the  hissing  boilers,  in  the  gang  of  half -naked, 
grimy  men  who  fed  the  raging  furnaces  and  wielded 


THE  CASTAWAYS  39 

the  glowing  slice-bars  and  shifted  the  coal  from  the 
cavernous  bunkers. 

The  quivering  needles  of  the  gauges  already  re 
corded  more  steam  than  the  law  allowed,  and  they 
were  creeping  higher  pound  by  pound.  The  heat  in 
the  fire-room  was  so  intense  that  the  men  had  to  be 
relieved  at  brief  intervals.  There  was  no  forced 
ventilation,  and  the  wind  was  following  the  ship. 
The  deck-hands,  unaccustomed  to  grilling  alive, 
stood  to  it  pluckily  until  they  collapsed  and  were 
hauled  out  by  the  head  and  the  heels.  Back  and 
forth,  between  the  engine-room  and  this  inferno, 
waddled  Johnny  Kent,  raining  perspiration,  an  oil 
can  in  one  hand,  a  heavy  wrench  in  the  other,  and 
with  the  latter  he  smote  such  faint-hearted  wights 
as  would  falter  while  there  was  strength  in  them. 

"Hello,  Cap'n  Mike,"  he  roared  as  the  skipper 
sidled  into  the  engine-room.  "Is  the  other  vessel 
still  gainin'  on  us,  and  what  does  she  look  like?" 

"She  looks  like  trouble,  Johnny.  We  are  doing 
better.  How  are  things  with  you?" 

"I  need  a  couple  of  husky  men.  No  use  sendin' 
me  those  limpsy  patriots." 

"I  will  look  for  them,  Johnny.  Will  your  boilers 
hold  together?  Can  you  get  any  more  out  of 
her?" 

"Of  course  I  can.  She's  licensed  to  carry  a  hun 
dred  and  eighty  pounds,  and  I  aim  to  push  her  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty." 

Captain  O'Shea  hastened  on  deck,  glanced  forward 
and  aft,  and  grinned  as  he  caught  sight  of  Gerald 


40         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Ten  Eyck  Van  Steen.  To  this  pampered  young  man 
he  shouted: 

"You  are  a  well-built  lad.  Jump  below,  if  you 
please,  and  the  chief  will  introduce  ye  to  a  shovel." 

"  But  I  don't  want  a  shovel.  I  refuse  to  go  below." 
haughtily  replied  Van  Steen.  "It  has  occurred  to 
me  that  if  you  will  quit  this  silly  race  and  let  the 
other  steamer  come  within  signalling  distance  I  can 
explain  the  case  to  her  commander,  and  he  will  be 
glad  to  take  us  on  board.  Van  Steen  &  Van  Steen 
have  influential  banking  connections  with  the  Span 
ish  government." 

"'Tis  no  time  to  deliver  orations,"  swiftly  spake 
O'Shea.  "The  other  steamer  will  shoot  first  and 
explain  afterward.  Come  along  and  work  your  pas 
sage." 

"Do  not  resist,  Gerald,"  quavered  Miss  Hollister. 

"Be  a  good  sport  and  play  the  game,"  slangily 
advised  Nora  Forbes. 

Captain  O'Shea  did  not  appear  to  use  violence. 
He  seemed  to  propel  Van  Steen  with  a  careless  wave 
of  the  arm,  and  the  indignant  young  man  moved 
rapidly  in  the  direction  of  the  stoke-hole  ladder. 
Johnny  Kent  pounced  on  him  with  profane  jubila 
tion,  instantly  stripped  him  of  coat  and  shirt,  and 
shot  him  in  to  join  the  panting  toilers.  There  was 
a  plucky  streak  in  this  victim  of  circumstances,  and 
he  perceived  that  he  must  take  his  medicine.  The 
fire-room  gang  was  reinforced  by  a  strong  parr  of 
arms,  a  stout  back,  and  the  stubborn  endurance  of 
the  Dutch. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  41 

The  afternoon  was  gone  and  the  sun  had  slid 
under  the  lovely  western  sea.  The  Spanish  cruiser 
was  spurting  desperately  to  overtake  her  quarry  be 
fore  darkness.  The  speed  of  the  quivering,  clangor 
ous  Fearless  had  crept  up  to  a  shade  better  than 
fifteen  knots.  The  cruiser  was  in  poor  trim  to  show 
what  she  could  do.  Captain  O'Shea  knew  the  rated 
speed  of  every  craft  on  the  Spanish  naval  list  and 
if  his  surmise  was  correct  this  particular  cruiser 
should  be  doing  eighteen  knots.  But  he  knew  also 
that  a  foul  bottom,  slovenly  discipline,  and  inferior 
coal  counted  against  her,  and  that  he  had  a  fighting 
chance  of  escape. 

It  was  immensely  trying  to  watch  and  wait.  Of 
all  the  company  on  deck  that  stood  and  stared  at 
the  small  outline  of  the  cruiser  etched  against  the 
shining  sea,  only  Captain  O'Shea  realized  that  this 
was  the  grimmest  kind  of  a  life-and-death  tussle. 
He  was  your  thoroughbred  gambler  who  compre 
hends  the  odds  and  accepts  them,  but  he  was 
sorry  for  his  crew,  and  much  more  so  for  the  two 
women  who  were  hi  his  charge. 

The  chaperon  had  retired  to  her  room  in  the  grip 
of  an  acute  nervous  headache.  She  was  mercifully 
unable  to  understand  that  tragedy  moved  on  the 
face  of  the  waters,  that  whether  or  not  the  Fearless 
was  to  be  obliterated  depended  on  a  certain  number 
of  engine  revolutions  per  minute. 

The  cook  had  prepared  supper,  observing  to  him 
self  as  he  rattled  his  pans: 

"If  we  all  is  due  to  git  bumped  to  glory,  I  reckon 


42         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

we'll  take  it  more  cheerful  with  a  square  meal  under 
our  briskets." 

He  dutifully  bore  a  tray  to  the  captain's  room, 
but  Miss  Hollister  had  no  appetite,  and  he  betook 
himself  to  the  bridge,  where  Nora  Forbes  was  stand 
ing  beside  the  captain. 

"  Set  the  supper  on  the  chart-locker  in  the  wheel- 
house,  George,"  said  O'Shea.  "The  young  lady  will 
not  be  wanting  to  go  into  her  room  and  miss  any  of 
the  show." 

In  her  twenty  years  Nora  Forbes  had  never  lived 
as  intensely  as  now.  The  blood  of  an  adventurous 
ancestry  was  in  her  veins.  She  was  thrilled,  but  not 
afraid.  More  than  she  was  aware,  the  dominating 
personality  of  Captain  O'Shea  was  influencing  and 
attracting  her.  Unconsciously  she  was  sharing  his 
simple,  clear-eyed  courage,  which  accepted  things  as 
he  found  them.  There  was  singular  comfort  in 
standing  beside  him.  They  lingered  for  a  moment 
in  the  wheel-house,  where  the  tall  young  mate  gripped 
the  spokes,  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  swaying  compass- 
card  in  the  binnacle. 

"You  have  never  filibustered  before,  I  take  it, 
Miss  Forbes,"  said  Captain  O'Shea,  "but  ye  are  as 
cool  as  an  old  hand." 

"I  never  dreamed  that  men  were  living  such  lives 
as  this  nowadays,"  she  replied.  "Tell  me,  do 
you ' 

Down  the  wind  came  the  report  of  a  heavy  gun. 
O'Shea  leaped  to  the  bridge  and  the  girl  followed, 
her  heart  throbbing  with  a  sudden,  sickening  fear. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  43 

Twilight  was  shutting  down.  The  first  star  gleamed 
in  the  pale  sky,  but  a  curious  after-glow  lingered  to 
flood  the  sea  with  tremulous  illumination.  The 
cruiser  showed  like  a  gray  shadow,  a  vague  blur, 
from  which  shot  a  second  flash  of  red.  Again  the 
boom  of  her  gun  was  heard  on  the  Fearless,  and  this 
time  the  steel  shell  kicked  up  a  water-spout  far  off 
to  starboard. 

"Johnny  Kent  has  lost  distance  in  the  last  half 
hour,"  muttered  the  skipper.  "His  men  can't  stand 
the  pace." 

"What  does  it  mean?"  implored  Nora,  and  she 
caught  her  breath  with  a  sob.  "Are  they  really 
and  truly  trying  to  kill  us?" 

"Those  are  the  intentions,  but  the  shooting  is 
pretty  bad,  Miss  Forbes.  I  will  bet  ye  ten  to  one 
they  do  not  hit  us." 

Unwittingly  she  moved  closer  to  him.  Her  hand 
was  upon  the  rail  and  he  covered  it  with  his  hard 
palm.  At  the  firm,  warm  contact  her  fortitude  re 
turned.  His  tremendous  vitality  was  like  an  elec 
tric  current.  She  smiled  up  at  him  gratefully,  and 
he  said  in  a  big,  friendly  way,  to  put  her  at  ease: 

"'Tis  good  to  have  somebody  to  hang  onto  in  a 
tight  pinch,  isn't  it?  Look!  There  he  goes  again! 
A  better  shot.  It  struck  the  water  within  two  hun 
dred  yards  of  us.  If  he  keeps  on  improvin'  his  tar 
get  practice,  I  may  lose  me  bet." 

Nora  was  silent.  She  could  think  of  nothing  to 
say  as  she  stared  at  the  darkening  horizon  and  the 
flashes  of  the  cruiser's  guns.  The  after-glow  died, 


44         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

and  night  marched  swiftly  across  the  tropic  sea. 
It  curtained  the  cruiser  and  obscured  the  Fearless. 
Johnny  Kent  had  won  in  the  first  act  of  the 
drama. 

Every  light  on  board  the  tug  was  extinguished, 
and  the  word  was  carried  below  to  close  the  draughts 
and  slacken  the  fires  in  order  to  show  no  sparks  from 
the  funnel.  The  Fearless  swerved  sharply  from  her 
course  and  ran  straight  away  from  the  Cuban  coast, 
heading  to  the  southward  across  the  Caribbean. 
To  follow  her  was  a  game  of  blind-man's-buff,  and 
Captain  O'Shea  knew  every  trick  of  shaking  off 
pursuit. 

Nora  had  withdrawn  her  imprisoned  hand  with  a 
self-conscious  little  start.  Already  the  episode  of 
the  chase  seemed  unreal,  theatrical.  It  would  not 
have  surprised  her  if  the  picturesque  Cubans  had 
burst  into  a  light-opera  chorus.  She  hastened  to 
tell  her  aunt  the  good  news,  and  presently  there 
came  staggering  up  from  the  lower  deck  the  wreck 
of  Gerald  Ten  Eyck  Van  Steen.  The  merciful  night 
hid  his  grime  and  tatters.  Leaning  against  the  bulk 
head  of  the  tiny  passageway,  he  addressed  the  in 
visible  ladies  in  the  state-room.  His  voice  was 
husky  and  cracked,  but,  singularly  enough,  all  its 
petulance  had  fled. 

"It  was  simply  great,"  he  exclaimed.  "We  shov 
elled  coal  like  drunken  devils,  and  between-times 
they  dragged  us  on  deck  and  turned  the  hose  on  us. 
My  word,  it  was  a  sporty  game,  and  we  won.  I  am 
bruises  from  head  to  foot,  but  what's  the  odds?" 


THE  CASTAWAYS  45 

Nora  was  instantly  contrite.  Here  was  an  unex 
pected  hero,  whom  she  had  shamefully  forgotten. 

"You  poor  Gerald!    Tell  us  all  about  it." 

He  felt  proud  of  himself.  Nora  shared  the  feeling, 
and  yet  her  behavior  lacked  the  warmth  to  be  ex 
pected  of  a  girl  whose  engagement  to  Gerald  Van 
Steen  had  been  a  notable  society  event  on  Fifth 
Avenue.  Wayward  and  shocking  it  was,  no  doubt, 
but  she  knew  that  she  would  rather  talk  to  the  rude 
and  unregenerate  Captain  Michael  O'Shea. 

She  let  Gerald  tell  her  of  the  great  fight  for  more 
speed  down  among  the  roaring  furnaces,  of  the  faint 
ing  men,  the  straining  boilers,  the  furiously  driven 
engines,  and  of  the  bullying,  cursing,  jesting  Johnny 
Kent  who  held  the  men  and  the  machines  unfalter 
ingly  to  their  work. 

"He  is  an  awful  brute,"  said  Van  Steen,  rubbing 
a  welt  on  his  shoulder,  "but  he  has  pluck — no  end 
of  it.  A  steam-pipe  leading  to  a  pump  or  something 
burst  and  scalded  him,  but  he  didn't  let  up  at  all, 
and  threatened  us  with  more  kinds  of  death  and 
damnation  than  ever." 

"He  must  be  suffering  dreadfully,"  exclaimed  the 
ardently  sympathetic  Nora.  "I  thought  he  looked 
so  good-natured  and  jolly  and  easy-going." 

"You  are  a  poor  hand  at  reading  character,"  was 
the  earnest  comment.  "Were  you  anxious  about 
me,  Nora?" 

"Yes,  I  suppose  so.  It  was  so  exciting  on 
deck  that  I  couldn't  think  of  anything  else  but  that 
wicked  Spanish  cruiser." 


46         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Where  were  you  all  the  time?" 

"On  the  bridge  with  Captain  O'Shea." 

"The  deuce  you  were!  I  don't  like  him  at  all, 
Nora.  He  is  not  the  sort  you  should  have  anything 
to  do  with." 

"I  can't  very  well  help  meeting  him  now  and 
then,  Gerald.  Don't  be  a  goose.  Tell  me  some 
more  about  your  adventures  with  a  shovel." 

Van  Steen  was  ruffled  and  became  a  sulky  com 
panion.  Nora  let  him  kiss  her  good-night,  and  he 
wearily  descended  to  find  a  resting-place  on  the 
open  deck.  She  found  her  aunt  awake  and  told  her 
of  the  heroic  conduct  of  the  scalded  chief  engineer. 
The  stamp  of  Van  Steen's  approval  was  apt  to  color 
the  mental  attitude  of  Miss  Hollister  and  she  ex 
claimed  in  an  animated  manner: 

"Does  Gerald  really  believe  that  this  Mr.  Kent 
is  such  a  fine  character,  a  diamond  in  the 
rough?" 

"Gerald  certainly  respects  him,  although  he  does 
not  love  him,  Aunt  Katharine." 

"Then  I  hope  to  meet  Mr.  Kent  in  the  morning, 
Nora.  I  am  given  to  understand  that  he  saved  our 
lives,  but  I  can't  realize  that  the  cruiser  was  actu 
ally  shooting  at  us  with  deadly  intent." 

Miss  Hollister  was  a  woman  of  a  certain  kind  of 
determination  whenever  duty  was  concerned.  And 
because  she  had  misjudged  the  chief  engineer,  it  was 
her  duty  to  make  amends.  After  breakfast  she 
asked  Van  Steen  if  she  might  safely  go  to  the  lower 
deck  and  look  into  the  engine-room. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  47 

"You  are  coming  on  remarkably  well,"  said  he. 
" Aren't  you  afraid  of  the  brutes?" 

"I  wish  to  thank  our  preserver  and  to  inspect  the 
ship,"  she  calmly  answered. 

"Very  well.    Will  you  come  along,  Nora?" 

"Thanks,  Gerald,  but  Captain  O'Shea  wants  to 
show  me  the  chart  of  this  coast  and  of  the  bay 
where  he  will  try  to  land  the  cargo." 

"Hang  Captain  O'Shea;  he  is  making  a  con 
founded  nuisance  of  himself,"  muttered  Van  Steen 
as  he  reluctantly  departed  with  Miss  Hollister. 
They  passed  among  the  lounging  patriots  and  came 
upon  their  leader,  Colonel  Calvo,  whom  the  flight 
from  the  cruiser  had  frightened,  not  out  of  his  boots, 
but  into  them.  As  a  cure  for  sea-sickness  he  had 
found  the  boom  of  an  eight-inch  gun  extremely  ef 
ficacious.  He  flourished  his  hat  with  flamboyant 
gallantry  and  bowed  low  as  he  addressed  Miss  Hol 
lister. 

"Ah,  ha,  Sefiora!  To  behoP  you  is  a  pleasure  for 
me  an'  my  braves'  of  soldiers.  Yesterday  we  was 
ready  to  fight  the  ship  of  Spain,  to  defen'  the  ladies 
with  our  lives." 

The  dignified  spinster  looked  confused.  She  re 
sented  the  bold  stare  of  the  colonel's  black  eyes 
and  the  smirking  smile.  With  a  stiff  little  nod  she 
grasped  Gerald's  arm  and  told  him,  as  they  moved 
to  another  part  of  the  deck: 

"I  hate  that  man.     Is  he  really  a  brave  officer?" 

"Not  yet,  but  perhaps,  Miss  Hollister.  We  shall 
have  to  ask  Johnny  Kent  about  him." 


48         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Pausing  at  the  engine-room  door,  they  found  an 
assistant  on  duty.  To  their  inquiry  he  replied: 

"The  chief  is  in  his  bunk,  all  bandaged  up  and 
using  language.  His  arm  and  chest  were  blistered 
bad." 

"I  should  like  very  much  to  do  something  for 
him,"  timidly  answered  Miss  Hollister.  "Who  is 
attending  him?" 

"The  Cuban  doctor  has  a  medicine  chest,  ma'am, 
and  we  all  try  to  soothe  him.  But  he  cusses  us  out 
and  throws  things  at  us." 

"I  will  look  in  his  room  and  leave  a  message  for 
you,  Miss  Hollister,"  said  Gerald. 

"He  must  be  in  great  distress.  And  I  am  sure 
he  is  not  getting  proper  care,"  she  murmured. 

Van  Steen  cautiously  advanced  to  an  open  door 
beyond  the  engine-room,  Miss  Hollister  hovering  in 
the  background.  No  sooner  had  the  sufferer  in  the 
bunk  caught  sight  of  the  young  man  than  his  big 
voice  roared: 

"Come  to  gloat,  have  you?  I  suppose  you're 
glad  to  see  me  on  my  beam  ends  after  the  awful 
way  I  abused  you.  Get  to  hell  out  of  here." 

"Miss  Hollister  came  below  to  express  her  sym 
pathy,"  began  Van  Steen,  ready  to  dodge  a  water- 
bottle  that  stood  beside  the  bunk. 

"Holy  mackerel!  The  lovely  lady  with  the  gray 
hair?"  blurted  Johnny  Kent,  his  face  redder  than 
ordinary.  "Did  she,  honestly?  Is  she  out  there? 
Did  she  hear  me  slip  that  cuss-word?" 

"I  am  afraid  so.    Do  you  want  to  apologize? 


THE  CASTAWAYS  49 

She  accepts  my  statement  that  you  are  a  grand 
man  in  an  emergency." 

"Fetch  her  in.  No,  wait  a  minute.  Straighten 
out  the  bedclothes  and  see  that  my  nightie  is  but 
toned  clear  up  to  the  neck.  This  is  the  da-darnedest 
thing  that  ever  happened  to  me." 

It  was  also  an  unprecedented  experience  for  Miss 
Katharine  Hollister,  but  one  could  not  live  twenty- 
four  hours  on  board  the  Fearless  without  losing  one's 
grip  on  conventions,  even  though  they  were  made  in 
New  England.  She  halted  at  the  brass-bound  thresh 
old  of  the  little  room,  and  peered  curiously  at  the 
recumbent  figure  of  the  chief  engineer  with  his  gray 
mustache  and  mop  of  grizzled  hair. 

"  Come  in  and  take  the  chair  by  my  desk,  ma'am. 
What  on  earth  made  you  want  to  see  me?"  was  his 
hearty  greeting. 

She  remained  standing,  and  confessed,  hesitating 
nervously: 

"I  formed  such  a  shocking  opinion  of  you  when  I 
first  saw  you — I  thought  you  had  killed  that  negro 
— and  when  Mr.  Van  Steen  told  me  how  you  had 
toiled  and  suffered  to  save  the  ship — and  were  in 
pain — I  knew  my  judgment  was  mistaken — and  that 
it  was  my  duty " 

"Forget  it,  ma'am,"  and  Johnny  Kent  waved  a 
bandaged  fist.  "We  ain't  pretty  to  look  at,  and 
our  manners  are  violent,  but  when  you  talk  about 
duty,  I  guess  you  and  I  believe  in  the  same  gospel." 

His  gaze  was  so  honestly,  respectfully  worshipful 
that  Miss  Hollister  was  conscious  of  an  agreeable 


50         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

sensation.  She  was  a  woman,  and  a  charming  one, 
but  at  fifty  years  she  no  longer  dreamed  of  mascu 
line  homage. 

"Were  you  severely  injured,  Mr.  Kent?" 

"Not  half  as  much  as  those  poor  old  boilers.  I'm 
afraid  to  guess  how  many  tubes  are  leaky.  I'll  quit 
sputterin'  and  losin'  my  temper  when  we  get  those 
Cubans  and  guns  ashore." 

"Their  leader  does  not  seem  very  capable,"  vent 
ured  Miss  Hollister.  "I  was  not  at  all  favorably 
impressed  with  him  when  he  spoke  to  me  just  now." 

"Did  that  sea-sick  tin  soldier  annoy  you,  ma'am?  " 
heatedly  ejaculated  Johnny  Kent  as  he  raised  himself 
on  his  elbow  and  fixed  a  glittering  eye  on  a  holster 
which  hung  on  the  wall.  "I'll  surge  out  of  here  and 
learn  him  a  lesson  that  will  do  him  a  whole  lot  of 
good." 

"No  more  violence,  I  beg  of  you,"  implored  the 
spinster,  dismayed  and  yet  enjoyably  thrilled.  "I 
should  not  have  mentioned  it.  If  there  is  anything 
that  can  be  done  to  make  you  more  comfortable " 

"Pshaw,  I'll  be  up  and  doing  before  we  try  to 
make  a  landing,  ma'am.  Your  droppin'  in  to  see  me 
has  made  me  chirk  up.  Blessed  if  it  don't  make  this 
hole  of  a  room  seem  kind  of  sweetened  and  lit  up 
and  sanctified." 

Miss  Hollister  colored  and  concluded  that  she  had 
stayed  quite  long  enough.  With  a  gracious  word  of 
farewell,  she  hastened  to  the  upper  deck.  Nora 
Forbes  had  found  a  new  companion,  a  lean,  sandy 
man  hi  faded  khaki  whose  sad,  freckled  face  had  a 


THE  CASTAWAYS  51 

noticeable  pallor  and  whose  head  was  wound  about 
with  a  white  bandage.  He  sat  with  his  back  propped 
against  a  boat  in  the  shade  of  the  awning,  and  Nora 
announced  to  her  aunt: 

"I  want  you  to  know  Mr.  Jack  Gorham.  He  is 
the  man  who  conquered  that  giant  of  a  negro. 
Captain  O'Shea  says  it  was  one  of  the  finest  things 
he  ever  saw." 

Gorham,  a  modest,  shrinking  soul,  looked  acutely 
uncomfortable  and  protested: 

"I  had  to  get  him.  He  fetched  me  a  couple  of 
clips,  but  I  feel  pretty  spry.  I'll  be  ready  to  hop 
ashore  and  perforate  them  Spanish  officers  at  a 
thousand  per." 

Oddly  enough,  Miss  HoUister  was  no  longer  terri 
fied  by  the  presence  of  these  men  of  war.  Since 
meeting  Johnny  Kent  she  had  suffered  a  sea-change. 
In  the  face  of  the  veteran  soldier  she  was  able  to 
read  that  same  quality  of  respectful  admiration. 
She  had  been  vouchsafed  a  glimpse  of  the  real 
spirit  of  this  singular  voyage.  It  was  pure  ro 
mance,  reincarnated  from  the  age  when  the  world 
was  young.  She  had  been  permitted  to  sail  with 
men  who  were  living  an  Odyssey,  a  saga,  but  they 
knew  it  not.  She  thought  of  Johnny  Kent  in  his 
bunk,  and  now  she  looked  at  Jack  Gorham,  com 
monplace,  unlettered,  uncouth,  and  listened  while 
Nora  repeated  the  story  of  the  fight  with  Jiminez. 
The  soldier  wriggled  uneasily.  His  embarrassment 
was  painful.  When  questioned  he  could  only  re 
peat: 


52         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Well,  I  just  had  to  get  him.  That's  all  there 
was  to  it." 

"But  you  did  not  have  to  risk  your  life,"  persisted 
Nora.  "Captain  O'Shea  was  ready  with  his  whole 
crew  to  overpower  the  man." 

"The  captain  wanted  to  tackle  him,  but  of  course 
I  couldn't  stand  for  that,"  patiently  explained 
Gorham. 

"Why  did  you  do  it?"  asked  Miss  Hollister. 

"I  guess  it  was  what  you  might  call  a  question 
of  duty,"  he  drawled. 

"I  have  heard  nothing  else,"  was  the  spinster's 
wondering  comment.  "And  yet  you  are  all  break 
ing  the  laws  of  your  country.  My  standards  of 
right  and  wrong  seem  all  topsy-turvy." 

"You  sure  did  land  in  queer  company  this  time," 
seriously  affirmed  Gorham. 

Miss  Hollister's  excursion  into  the  debatable 
ground  of  conduct  and  ethics  as  applied  to  bucca 
neering  hi  the  Caribbean  was  interrupted  by  Cap 
tain  O'Shea,  who  was  hi  a  mood  of  brisk  action  and 
curt  speech.  Paying  no  attention  to  the  ladies,  he 
halted  in  front  of  Gorham  to  say: 

"We  shall  try  to  put  the  stuff  ashore  to-night. 
Will  ye  be  fit  to  land  with  the  Cubans,  or  will  I 
carry  you  back  home  with  me?" 

"Of  course,  I'll  land,  sir.  The  nigger  didn't  cut 
me  deep,"  was  the  dogged  response.  "What's  the 
programme?" 

"The  cargo  will  be  hoisted  out  of  the  hold  this 
afternoon,  convenient  for  droppin'  into  the  boats. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  53 

If  you  are  able,  will  ye  stand  by  to  boss  a  gang  of 
Cubans?  Ye  need  not  bear  a  hand  yourself.  Just 
talk  to  them  and  m'ake  signs  with  the  butt  end  of 
that  old  Springfield." 

"Yes,  sir.     I'll  manage  to  keep  them  busy." 

The  news  ran  through  the  ship.  By  noon  the  pa 
triots  were  seething  with  excitement.  They  were 
about  to  set  foot  on  the  beloved  soil  of  Cuba,  to 
be  quit  of  the  hateful,  perfidious  ocean.  They  be 
came  incredibly  valiant.  These  forty  men  would 
face  a  Spanish  army.  They  talked  of  marching  to 
attack  fortified  cities.  Magically  revived,  they 
scoured  the  rust  from  their  weapons  and  brandished 
them  with  melodramatic  gesticulation.  They  sang 
the  battle-hymns  of  the  revolution  and  wept  at 
sight  of  the  blue,  misty  mountain  range  of  the 
distant  coast.  Jack  Gorham  regarded  them  crit 
ically. 

One  gang  of  Cubans  went  into  the  hold  and  an 
other  was  stationed  on  deck.  The  heavy  cases  of 
rifles  and  cartridges  were  passed  up  '  through  the 
hatchways  and  piled  along  the  rail.  Captain  O'Shea 
sauntered  hither  and  yon,  once  halting  to  remark 
in  chiding  accents: 

"Better  not  bang  those  square  boxes  about  so 
free  and  careless.  'Tis  nitro-glycerine  for  making 
dynamite  ashore." 

"I'll  land  it  myself,"  said  Gorham.  "It  will  come 
in  handy  for  blowin'  up  Spanish  troop-trains." 

Toward  nightfall  the  Fearless  reduced  speed  and 
loafed  along  over  a  smooth  sea  at  a  distance  of  per- 


54         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

haps  thirty  miles  from  the  coast.  The  crisis  of  the 
voyage  had  come.  O'Shea  must  run  his  ship  into 
a  trap  and  get  her  out  again. 

As  soon  as  darkness  was  at  hand  the  Fearless 
began  the  final  dash  for  the  coast.  Johnny  Kent 
had  crawled  from  his  bunk  and  wearily  set  himself 
down  in  the  engine-room  doorway  to  await  orders. 

"If  anything  goes  wrong  to-night,  it'll  happen  all 
of  a  sudden,"  he  grumbled  to  his  first  assistant. 
"Takin'  chances  of  getting  bottled  up  in  a  bay  don't 
please  me  a  mite." 

"There  is  nothing  in  sight,  chief.  It  looks  like  an 
easy  landing.  The  skipper  knows  his  business." 

"But  it  would  be  just  our  fool  luck  to  run  into 
trouble  with  these  two  ladies  aboard.  Women  com 
plicate  every  game  they  draw  cards  in.  But  that 
Miss  Hollister  is  certainly  a  queen,  ain't  she,  Jim?" 

"She's  old  enough  to  be  my  mother,"  ungallantly 
observed  the  youthful  assistant. 

"And  I'm  'most  old  enough  to  be  your  grand- 
daddy,  you  godless,  disrespectful  sculpin,"  was  the 
angry  retort  of  Johnny  Kent.  "And  I'm  man 
enough  to  break  you  in  two  across  my  knees." 

The  rash  young  man  wisely  held  his  tongue,  and 
the  chief  engineer  murmured  to  the  world  at  large : 

"Refinement  and  culture  do  make  a  heap  of  dif 
ference  in  folks.  Now,  if  I  had  chased  after  refine 
ment  and  culture  when  I  was  young,  instead  of  in 
cessantly  pursuin'  rum,  riot,  and  rebellion  on  the 
high  seas — but  what's  the  use?" 

Thereupon  this  pensive  pirate  turned  to  survey 


THE  CASTAWAYS  55 

his  chanting  engines  and  wondered  what  the  night 
might  bring  forth.  The  Fearless  maintained  an  even 
gait  until  the  coast  was  no  more  than  five  miles  dis 
tant.  Then  she  drifted  idly  while  Captain  O'Shea 
swept  the  horizon  with  his  night-glasses.  His  eyes 
and  ears  were  acutely  alert,  but  there  was  neither 
sight  nor  sound  of  Spanish  blockading  craft  cruising 
to  intercept  him.  Astern  were  piled  six  large  flat- 
bottomed  surf-boats,  in  nests,  as  fishermen's  dories 
are  carried.  These  were  now  launched  and  towed, 
ready  to  be  ranged  alongside  and  rilled  with  cargo. 

The  forty  Cubans  conversed  in  hushed  tones. 
Every  man  had  knapsack,  blanket-roll,  canteen, 
and  loaded  rifle.  The  Fearless  again  picked  up  full 
speed  and  moved  straight  for  the  coast.  Soon  the 
mountains  loomed  like  gigantic  shadows  blotting  out 
the  stars.  It  was  a  bold,  sheer  coast,  indented  here 
and  there  by  small  bays  into  which  the  rivers  flowed 
from  the  passes  and  valleys.  It  was  in  a  certain 
one  of  these  bays  that  Captain  O'Shea  had  been 
told  by  the  Junta  to  beach  his  cargo.  A  force  of 
Cubans  led  by  General  Maximo  Gomez  himself 
would  be  waiting  to  receive  the  munitions.  As  had 
been  arranged,  the  Fearless  now  showed  a  white 
mast-head  light  above  a  red.  Captain  O'Shea  looked 
at  his  watch.  Three  minutes  later  his  signal-lights 
flashed  again.  In  the  gloom  of  the  mountain-side, 
a  white  light  winked  above  a  red. 

"That  looks  good  to  me,"  said  O'Shea  to  the 
mate.  "If  there  was  anything  wrong,  the  answer 
ing  signal  would  warn  us  to  keep  clear.  But  I  do 


56         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

not  like  this  messin'  around  in  a  bay.  Give  me  the 
open  coast  and  plenty  of  sea-room." 

The  Fearless  had  come  so  near  the  entrance  of 
the  bay  that  the  shadowy  headlands  on  either  side 
were  dimly  discernible  from  the  bridge.  The  speed 
of  the  tug  diminished  until  she  was  cautiously  mov 
ing  ahead  with  no  more  than  steerage-way. 

The  silence  was  intense.  No  one  spoke  above  a 
whisper.  The  engines  were  turning  over  so  slowly 
that  their  rhythmic  clamor  was  no  more  than  a 
faint,  muffled  throb,  like  the  pulse-beat  of  the  ship. 
Warily  she  slid  into  the  quiet  bay  and  made  ready 
to  drop  anchor  off  a  strip  of  white  beach.  The  surf- 
boats  were  hauled  alongside  and  the  cargo  began  to 
tumble  into  them.  It  looked  as  though  this  game 
of  filibustering  might  not  be  so  hazardous  as  reputed. 
The  seamen  were  in  the  boats,  detailed  to  handle 
the  oars  and  put  the  Cubans  and  the  cargo  ashore. 

The  deep-laden  flotilla  had  not  quit  the  Fearless 
for  the  first  trip  to  the  beach  when  the  vigilant 
skipper  fancied  he  saw  a  shadow  steal  from  behind 
a  headland  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay.  For  a  long  mo 
ment  he  ceased  to  breathe,  while  his  gaze  followed 
the  illusive  shadow  which  he  was  not  sure  that  he 
could  distinguish  from  the  darkened  sea. 

Then  one  or  two  sparks  gleamed  like  fire-flies  and 
were  gone.  This  was  enough.  Captain  O'Shea  in 
stantly  concluded  that  the  sparks  had  dropped  from 
a  steamer's  funnel.  He  was  caught  inside  the  bay. 
Perhaps  the  steamer  would  pass  without  sighting 
the  Fearless.  But  the  shadow  halted  midway  be- 


THE  CASTAWAYS  57 

tween  the  headlands,  and  O'Shea  cursed  the  treach 
ery  which  he  presumed  had  betrayed  his  destination. 
The  snare  had  been  cleverly  set  for  him.  The  Cuban 
force  in  the  mountains  had  failed  to  detect  this  Span 
ish  vessel  or  they  would  not  have  signalled  him  that 
the  coast  was  clear. 

O'Shea  had  to  make  his  choice.  He  could  abandon 
his  ship  and  flee  with  his  crew  and  passengers  to  the 
beach  and  the  jungle,  or  he  could  turn  and  try  to 
smash  his  way  out  to  sea.  The  thought  of  deserting 
the  Fearless  was  so  intolerable  that  he  made  his  de 
cision  without  hesitating.  Summoning  the  mate 
and  Johnny  Kent,  he  spoke  hurriedly. 

"'Tis  bottled  up  we  are.  Look  yonder  and  ye 
can  see  for  yourself.  Call  the  men  aboard  and  cut 
the  boats  adrift.  Give  it  to  her,  Johnny,  and  hold 
on  tight.  There  may  be  the  divil  and  all  of  a 
bump." 

"  Coin'  to  run  her  down?  "  asked  the  chief  engineer. 

"If  she  doesn't  get  out  of  my  way.  'Tis  a  small 
gun-boat  most  likely." 

Ill 

THE  patriots  were  unable  to  adjust  themselves  to 
the  sudden  shift  of  events.  One  moment  they  were 
about  to  land,  rejoicing  and  valorous,  to  be  wel 
comed  by  the  tattered  legion  of  Maximo  Gomez, 
and  the  next  they  were  snatched  away  to  surge 
hell-bent  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy  and  the  de 
testable  sea.  Captain  O'Shea  might  have  delayed 


58         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

to  dump  them  into  the  boats  and  turn  them  adrift 
to  flounder  about  the  bay,  but  in  all  probability  the 
Spanish  gun-boat  would  overtake  and  slay  many 
before  they  could  reach  the  shore.  He  did  not  love 
them,  but  it  was  his  duty  to  safeguard  them  along 
with  the  cargo. 

Less  than  ten  minutes  after  the  shadow  had  moved 
across  the  entrance  of  the  bay,  the  Fearless  was 
swinging  to  point  her  nose  seaward.  As  soon  as  the 
tug  was  fairly  straightened  out,  O'Shea  rang  for  full 
speed.  It  was  no  longer  a  silent  ship.  The  patriots 
raised  a  lamentable  outcry  of  grief  and  indignation, 
unable  to  comprehend  this  slip  between  the  cup  and 
the  lip.  They  were  unconvinced  that  the  captain 
had  really  seen  a  gun-boat.  They  accused  him  of 
taking  fright  at  phantoms. 

Indeed,  there  was  no  such  thing  as  slipping  un- 
perceived  past  the  waiting  enemy,  for  besides  the 
loud  protests  of  the  Cubans,  the  engines  of  the 
Fearless  made  a  strident  song  that  re-echoed  from 
the  wooded  shores.  No  longer  in  ambush,  the 
Spanish  craft  turned  on  a  search-light  whose  stream 
ing  radiance  picked  the  tug  out  of  the  gloom  like  a 
lantern-slide  projected  on  a  screen.  The  two  vessels 
were  perhaps  four  hundred  yards  apart.  Straight 
into  the  path  of  the  search-light  rushed  the  Fearless, 
veering  neither  to  right  nor  left.  Her  tactics  were 
disconcerting,  her  insane  temerity  wholly  unexpected. 
It  was  obvious  that  unless  the  gun-boat  very  hastily 
moved  out  of  the  way  there  would  occur  an  impres 
sive  collision.  And  the  tall  steel-shod  prow  of  an 


THE  CASTAWAYS  59 

ocean-going  tug  is  apt  to  shatter  the  thin  plates  of 
a  light-draught,  coastwise  gun-boat. 

Captain  O'Shea  himself  held  the  wheel.  The 
Spanish  gunners  hurriedly  opened  fire,  but  sensa 
tions  of  panic-smitten  amazement  spoiled  their  aim, 
and  they  might  as  well  have  been  shooting  at  the 
moon. 

"By  Judas!  ye  are  so  gay  with  your  search-light,  I 
will  just  have  a  look  at  you,"  muttered  O'Shea  as  he 
switched  on  the  powerful  light  which  was  mounted 
upon  the  wheel-house  roof.  The  handsome  gun-boat 
was  sharply  revealed,  her  sailors  grouped  at  the  quick- 
fire  pieces  on  the  superstructure,  the  officers  clustered 
forward.  Jack  Gorham's  Springfield  boomed  like  a 
small  cannon,  and  a  man  with  gold  stripes  on  his 
sleeves  toppled  from  his  station  and  sprawled  on  the 
deck  below. 

The  Cubans  cheered  and  let  fly  a  scattering,  futile 
rifle  fire,  but  the  crew  of  the  Fearless,  convinced  that 
they  must  fight  for  their  skins,  crouched  behind  the 
heavy  bulwarks  and  handled  their  Mausers  with 
methodical  earnestness.  The  Spanish  officers  and 
seamen  took  to  cover.  They  were  not  used  to  be 
ing  shot  at,  and  this  filibustering  tug  was  behaving 
like  a  full-fledged  pirate.  The  commander  of  the 
gun-boat  made  up  his  mind  to  dodge  collision  and 
sink  the  Fearless  with  his  guns  before  she  should 
flee  beyond  range  outside  the  bay.  His  mental  ma 
chinery  was  not  working  swiftly,  because  this  was 
what  might  be  called  his  crowded  hour.  He  tried 
to  swing  his  vessel  head  on  and  to  sheer  to  one  side 
of  the  channel. 


60         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Captain  O'Shea  climbed  the  spokes  of  his  steer 
ing-wheel  and  swung  the  Fearless  to  meet  the  ma 
noeuvre.  He  was  bent  on  crippling  the  gun-boat. 
With  leaky  boiler  tubes,  the  tug  was  in  no  condition 
for  another  stern  chase  and  the  Spanish  gunners 
would  certainly  hull  her  through  and  through  and 
explode  the  cargo  before  he  could  run  clear  of  the 
hostile  search-light. 

A  few  seconds  later,  the  foaming  bow  of  the 
Fearless  struck  the  gun-boat  a  quartering,  glancing 
blow  that  raked  along  her  side.  The  Spanish  com 
mander  had  almost  twisted  his  vessel  out  of  the 
other's  path  and  O'Shea  dared  not  swing  to  catch 
her  broadside  on,  for  fear  of  running  aground.  The 
impact  was  terrific.  The  Spanish  craft  had  a  low 
freeboard  and  the  guns  of  her  main-deck  battery 
protruded  their  long  muzzles  only  a  few  feet  above 
the  water.  The  steel  stem  of  the  Fearless,  moving 
with  tremendous  momentum,  struck  them  one  after 
the  other,  tore  them  from  their  mountings  and 
stripped  the  starboard  side  clean.  The  tug's  head 
way  was  checked  and  a  tangle  of  splintered  stuff 
held  the  two  vessels  interlocked.  The  Spanish  gun 
ners  on  the  upper  deck  could  not  sufficiently  depress 
the  secondary  battery  to  fire  down  into  the  Fearless, 
and  on  board  the  tug  all  hands  had  been  knocked 
flat  by  the  collision,  so  that  for  the  moment  there 
was  no  hostile  action  on  either  side. 

So  close  together  were  the  two  steamers  while 
they  hung  together  that  cases  of  cargo,  toppling 
over,  spilled  through  the  crushed  bulwark  of  the 
Fearless,  and  slid  upon  the  gun-boat's  lower  deck 


THE  CASTAWAYS  61 

where  the  side  had  been  fairly  ripped  out  of  her 
above  the  water-line.  Then  the  tug  very  slowly 
forged  ahead,  tearing  herself  free  and  grinding  against 
the  gun-boat's  cracked  and  twisted  plates  until  the 
twain  parted  company. 

"We  are  still  afloat,  glory  be,  and  the  engines  are 
turnin'  over,"  cried  O'Shea. 

He  spun  the  wheel  hard  over  to  pass  out  to  sea 
between  the  headlands,  and  steered  where  he  thought 
deep  water  ought  to  be.  The  gun-boat  had  not 
opened  fire,  and  he  began  to  hope  that  he  might 
win  the  freedom  of  the  sea.  Nor  was  the  hostile 
vessel  making  any  effort  to  follow  him,  and  instead 
of  blazing  his  trail  with  her  search-light  it  had  been 
turned  skyward  to  flash  signals  for  assistance  against 
the  clouds. 

"I  jolted  the  ambition  out  of  her,"  joyfully  ex 
claimed  O'Shea.  "I  would  not  like  to  look  at  my 
poor  old  hooker,  but  she  must  be  an  awful  hash  on 
deck " 

The  Fearless  suddenly  yawed  to  starboard  and 
took  the  bit  hi  her  teeth.  The  skipper  tried  to  fetch 
her  back  on  her  course,  but  she  failed  to  respond  to 
the  wheel.  He  instantly  knew  that  a  rudder  chain 
had  parted.  He  yelled  down  the  tube  to  Johnny 
Kent  to  reverse  his  engines.  The  masterless  tug 
was  heading  out  of  the  channel  and  the  incoming 
tide  caught  her  bow  and  swung  her  away  from  the 
seaward  passage,  over  toward  the  nearest  headland 
and  its  submerged  reef. 

The  Fearless  felt  the  powerful  backward  drag  of 


62         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

her  screw,  but  not  in  time.  The  disabled  steering- 
gear  wrought  the  mischief  before  the  emergency 
tiller  could  be  manned  or  an  anchor  dropped  to  hold 
her  in  the  channel.  Her  keel  scraped  along  the  coral 
bottom  and  the  hull  trembled  to  the  shock  of  strand 
ing.  The  Fearless  was  hard  and  fast  aground  and 
the  tide  lacked  three  hours  of  the  flood. 

Finding  it  useless  to  try  to  work  her  off,  Captain 
O'Shea  had  the  engines  stopped.  The  plight  was 
soon  discovered  by  the  gun-boat,  which  brought  her 
search-light  to  bear  on  the  tug.  The  Spanish  com 
mander  laughed,  no  doubt,  when  he  perceived  that 
he  could  train  his  remaining  guns  and  smash  the 
Fearless  to  pieces  at  his  leisure.  It  was  point-blank 
range  at  a  conspicuous  target,  and  the  tables  had 
been  turned. 

Captain  O'Shea  comprehended  the  fate  that  was 
about  to  overtake  his  helpless  ship.  His  boats  had 
been  cut  adrift  and  there  was  no  means  of  convey 
ing  his  people  to  the  shore.  They  could  only  swim  for 
it  and  try  to  find  footing  on  the  reef. 

"'Tis  no  use  showing  a  white  flag  and  offering  to 
surrender,"  he  said  to  himself  while  the  sweat  ran 
down  his  face.  "We  fired  on  them  and  we  rammed 
their  ship." 

There  was  a  life-raft  on  the  deck-house  roof,  and 
he  was  about  to  order  it  shoved  overside  in  order 
to  send  Nora  Forbes  and  Miss  Hollister  ashore  in 
charge  of  Van  Steen  and  the  mate.  It  was  a  for 
lorn  hope,  because  the  gun-boat  would  most  likely 
fire  at  anything  seen  afloat.  Just  then  Jack  Gorham 


THE  CASTAWAYS  63 

climbed  to  the  bridge  and  respectfully  saluted  the 
captain. 

"We  are  up  against  it,  Jack,"  said  O'Shea.  "The 
Spaniard  yonder  is  taking  his  time.  He  will  anchor 
bow  and  stern  and  then  shoot  us  to  splinters.  I  will 
be  grateful  if  ye  will  lend  the  mate  and  young 
Van  Steen  a  hand  with  the  ladies.  If  ye  can  fetch 
the  beach,  take  to  the  woods  and  try  to  find  the 
camp  of  General  Gomez." 

"I  have  a  proposition,  sir,"  returned  the  soldier, 
and  for  once  his  voice  was  unsteady  with  excitement. 
"When  we  were  tangled  alongside  the  gun-boat, 
some  cases  of  cargo  was  jolted  off  our  deck  onto  her 
deck  where  the  woodwork  and  plates  was  all  tore 
away.  For  God's  sake,  put  your  search-light  on  her 
for  a  minute,  quick,  before  she  swings  her  smashed 
side  away  from  us.  She's  still  turnin'." 

"And  for  what?"  queried  O'Shea,  but  he  leaped 
for  the  lighting-switch,  confident  that  the  soldier 
knew  what  he  was  talking  about. 

"Two  of  them  cases  was  nitro-glycerine,  sir,  and 
for  a  wonder  they  slid  so  easy  that  they  didn't  go  off. 
I  know  them  when  I  see  'em.  Just  give  me  one 
sight  of  them." 

The  search-light  of  the  Fearless  swept  across  the 
gun-boat,  which  was  slowly  shifting  her  position  to 
find  the  middle  of  the  channel  and  a  safe  anchorage. 
There  was  cramped  room  to  manoeuvre,  and  she  was 
swinging  in  a  small  arc  which  exposed  for  a  little 
time  the  shattered  side  that  had  been  rammed  by 
the  tug.  A  gaping  hole  above  water  disclosed  the 


64         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

main-deck  forward,  and  the  search-light  of  the  Fear 
less  played  and  flickered  in  and  out,  white  and  brill 
iant.  It  illuminated  the  wreckage  and  the  heap  of 
wooden  cases  which  lay  as  they  had  slid  across  the 
fragments  of  bulwark  that  bridged  the  narrow  gap 
between  the  interlocked  vessels. 

"Hold  the  light  steady,  sir,"  said  Jack  Gorham 
as  he  dropped  to  one  knee,  shoved  the  barrel  of  the 
Springfield  across  the  rail  of  the  bridge,  and  laid  his 
cheek  against  the  stock.  "It  seems  plumb  ridicu 
lous,  but  it's  worth  tryin'." 

His  wonderfully  keen  eyes  had  distinguished  a 
square  wooden  case  which  sat  exposed  and  some 
what  removed  from  the  others  on  the  gun-boat's 
littered  deck.  He  had  bragged  of  his  marksman 
ship.  Now  was  the  supreme  opportunity  to  make 
good.  The  gun-boat  was  moving.  Her  shattered 
side  would  be  hidden  from  him  before  he  could 
shoot  more  than  twice  or  thrice. 

As  the  sights  of  his  beloved  old  rifle  came  true  on 
the  tiny  target  he  pressed  the  trigger  and  the  heavy 
bullet  went  singing  on  its  way. 

"Missed,  by  Godfrey!"  grunted  Gorham  as  he 
reloaded.  "If  I  score  a  bull's-eye,  you'll  know  it 
all  right." 

Annoyed  by  this  impertinence,  the  gun-boat  let 
drive  with  a  one-pounder  which  put  a  shell  through 
the  funnel  of  the  Fearless  and  showered  the  deck 
with  soot.  Gorham  wiped  his  eyes  and  took  aim 
for  the  second  shot.  Good  luck  and  good  marks 
manship  guided  it.  No  need  to  wonder  where  this 


THE  CASTAWAYS  65 

bullet  struck.  The  case  of  nitro-glycerine  exploded 
with  a  prodigious  detonation  that  seemed  to  shake 
earth  and  sea  and  sky.  The  forward  part  of  the 
gun-boat  was  enveloped  in  a  great  sheet  of  flame. 
The  people  of  the  Fearless  were  stunned  and  deaf 
ened  and  the  hull  rocked  violently  against  the  reef. 
Burning  fragments  rained  everywhere,  and  fell  hiss 
ing  into  the  bay.  From  the  place  where  the  gun 
boat  was  rapidly  sinking  came  cries  for  help. 

"  She  is  gone  entirely.  God  help  their  poor  souls," 
brokenly  murmured  Captain  O'Shea. 

He  turned  to  shout  to  the  mate: 

"Pull  yourself  together  and  paddle  over  yonder 
with  the  life-raft.  Pick  up  all  ye  find  of  the  poor 
men  in  the  water  and  set  them  ashore.  The  Cuban 
army  will  take  care  of  them  as  prisoners  of  war. 
And  maybe  you  can  find  some  of  our  boats.  'Tis 
an  awful  sight  to  see  a  fine  vessel  snuffed  out  like  a 
candle." 

Jack  Gorham  sat  on  deck,  his  head  in  his  hands, 
a  disconsolate  figure. 

"I  made  a  wonderful  shot,"  he  muttered,  "but 
I  hope  I'll  never  have  to  make  another  one  like  it." 

"Bridge,  ahoy!"  roared  Johnny  Kent  from  the 
lower  deck.  "This  is  war.  We  beat  'em  to  it. 
Now  let's  get  this  tug  off  the  reef  on  the  flood  tide, 
if  we  rip  the  bottom  out  of  her.  This  bay  will  be 
full  of  gun-boats  and  cruisers  to-morrow." 

Going  below  for  the  first  time  since  the  Fearless 
had  entered  the  bay,  the  skipper  found  the  decks 
in  chaotic  confusion.  Broken  bulwarks,  smashed 


66         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

doors  and  windows,  parted  funnel-stays,  twisted 
deck-houses,  and  other  signs  of  the  collision  were 
strewn  from  bow  to  stern.  Some  twenty  of  the 
patriots  had  dived  overboard.  Of  those  left  on 
board,  several  had  been  hurt,  and  the  crew  of  the 
Fearless  were  badly  cut,  bruised,  and  banged  about. 

O'Shea  rallied  all  that  were  able  to  turn  to,  and 
set  them  to  throwing  cargo  overboard.  The  guns 
and  ammunition  were  packed  in  water-proof  cases 
and  could  be  fished  up  by  the  Cuban  army  at  low 
tide.  It  was  heavy  material,  and  getting  rid  of  two 
or  three  hundred  tons  of  it  must  considerably  lighten 
the  stranded  tug.  At  this  back-breaking  task  dog 
gedly  labored  Gerald  Van  Steen  without  waiting  for 
an  order.  Captain  O'Shea  stared  at  him  by  the 
light  of  a  lantern  as  though  reminded  of  something 
important. 

"The  ladies!"  cried  he.  "Are  they  safe  and 
sound?" 

"They  are  alive,  thank  you,"  said  Van  Steen. 
"I  stowed  them  in  their  room,  and  made  them  lie 
on  the  floor  with  the  mattresses  tucked  against  the 
wall  to  stop  the  bullets.  I  could  think  of  nothing 
else  to  do." 

"And  how  did  they  take  it?" 

"Very  well,  indeed.  Miss  Hollister  has  been 
rather  hysterical,  but  one  can  scarcely  blame  her." 

"Well,  the  worst  may  be  over,  and  again  it  may 
not,"  thoughtfully  explained  O'Shea.  "Now,  'tis 
this  way.  I  can  set  you  people  ashore,  and  ye  can 
take  a  chance  that  the  Cuban  army  will  be  able  to 


THE  CASTAWAYS  67 

send  you  inside  the  Spanish  lines  under  a  flag  of 
truce.  But  there  may  be  weeks  of  hard  living  and 
fever  and  exposure  before  ye  get  anywhere  at  all. 
And  it  may  be  the  death  of  the  ladies.  Or  you  can 
stay  with  me,  if  we  get  this  vessel  off,  and  I  will 
carry  you  back  to  the  United  States." 

"It  isn't  a  hilarious  proposition  either  way,"  re 
plied  Van  Steen.  "I  rather  think,  though,  that  we 
had  better  stick  to  you." 

The  mate  returned  aboard  with  the  tidings  that 
more  than  half  the  crew  of  the  gun-boat  had  been 
rescued  by  the  life-raft  and  in  boats  which  had 
drifted  to  the  beach. 

"We  ought  to  have  those  boats  in  case  we  need 
them,"  said  the  skipper;  "but  if  the  ship  can  be 
worked  off  this  tide,  and  is  fit  to  go  to  sea,  I  will  not 
wait  for  them  or  anything  else." 

The  tide  was  rising  fast  and  the  company  worked 
like  mad  to  heave  the  cargo  overboard.  At  length 
Johnny  Kent  set  his  engines  going  hard  astern  and 
the  Fearless  began  to  slide  along  her  coral  bed. 
Halting,  bumping,  grinding,  she  gradually  moved 
into  the  deeper  water  of  the  channel  and  rolled  in 
the  swell  that  ran  past  the  headlands.  Collision 
and  stranding  had  fearfully  racked  and  strained  her 
hull,  and  the  captain  was  not  surprised  when  Johnny 
Kent  bellowed  from  below: 

"We're  leakin',  of  course.  I  guess  every  rivet  in 
her  must  have  pulled  loose.  You'd  better  pray  for  a 
spell  of  good  weather." 

"Would  ye  rather  be  shot  or  drowned  decent  in 


68         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

a  gale  of  wind,  Johnny?  'Tis  suicide  to  stay  on  this 
coast  till  daylight." 

The  forlorn  tug  limped  out  to  sea  at  her  best 
speed,  which  was  not  much.  The  fire-room  gang 
was  more  or  less  disabled  and  the  engines  needed 
a  deal  of  tinkering.  Drop  an  able-bodied  man  from 
a  third-story  window  and  he  may  not  break  his 
neck,  but  his  gait  is  not  apt  to  be  brisk. 

"By  the  holy  poker!"  ejaculated  O'Shea  to  the 
mate  as  they  watched  the  shadowy  mountains  drop 
astern.  "We  delivered  the  cargo,  though  it  is  in  a 
few  feet  of  water,  but  I  have  some  patriots  left.  I 
could  think  of  only  one  thing  at  a  tune.  What  will 
I  do  with  them?" 

"You  can  search  me,  sir.  Dump  'em  ashore  at 
Key  West,  if  we  ever  get  that  far." 

"I  will  not  run  into  this  coast  again  with  a  leaky 
old  crab  of  a  ship  and  no  more  than  coal  enough  to 
carry  me  to  a  friendly  port." 

Men  must  sleep,  and  when  the  Fearless  had  left 
the  coast  twenty  miles  behind  her  Captain  O'Shea 
set  the  regular  watches  and  curled  up  on  the  wheel- 
house  transom  for  a  nap  before  daylight.  Johnny 
Kent,  after  a  sorrowful  survey  of  his  engines  and 
boilers,  crawled  into  his  bunk  and  presently  his 
snores  rose  and  fell  with  the  cadenced  beat  of  the 
steam-pump  that  fought  to  keep  the  water  from  ris 
ing  in  the  leaky  hold.  The  sea  was  smooth,  the 
clouds  no  longer  obscured  the  stars,  and  the  weary 
crew  was  suffered  to  rest  before  clearing  away  the 
wreckage  and  patching  the  broken  upper  works. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  69 

When  O'Shea  awoke  the  dawn  was  bright  and  a 
fresh  breeze  whipped  across  an  empty  sea.  George, 
the  cook,  greeted  him  with  melancholy  demeanor. 

"You-all  suttinly  did  play  th'  mischief  with  mah 
galley  when  you  kerbumped  that  gun-boat,  cap'n. 
Every  las'  dish  is  busted." 

"Where  were  you,  George?" 

"Hidin'  behind  th'  range,  please,  suh.  An*  when 
that  there  Spaniard  blew  up  it  broke  all  th'  galley 
windows  an'  filled  me  plumb  full  of  glass.  Ain't  we 
had  mos'  excitement  enough?" 

"I  hope  so.  Did  your  friend,  big  Jiminez,  swim 
ashore  last  night?" 

"No,  suh.  He's  in  th'  galley  helpin'  me  straighten 
things  out.  Him  an'  me  ain't  a  mite  hostile.  Mis- 
tah  Gorham  suttinly  did  knock  a  heap  o'  sense  into 
that  niggah's  skull." 

The  breeze  blew  with  steadily  increasing  weight 
and  began  to  kick  up  a  choppy  sea  which  racked 
the  sluggish,  laboring  tug.  Johnny  Kent  reported 
that  the  pump  was  not  keeping  the  water  down 
as  easily  as  during  the  night.  O'Shea  chewed  over 
this  disquieting  news  and  was  undecided  whether  to 
attempt  the  long  passage  around  Cape  San  Antonio 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  alternative  was  to 
run  for  Jamaica  and  take  refuge  in  the  nearest  neu 
tral  port.  The  English  government  would  probably 
seize  his  ship,  but  her  company  would  be  safe  against 
arrest  and  condemnation  as  pirates  by  the  Spanish 
authorities. 

While  he  was  considering  this  grave  problem  his 


70         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

eyes  were  gladdened  by  the  sight  of  Nora  Forbes, 
who  came  on  deck  and  halted  to  gaze  with  amaze 
ment  at  the  wrecked  appearance  of  the  vessel.  Her 
splendid  color  paled  and  she  smiled  rather  tremu 
lously  at  Captain  O'Shea,  who  reassured  her: 

"We  are  still  afloat,  but  we  look  like  a  junk  heap. 
And  how  did  ye  pull  through?  And  is  your  aunt 
getting  the  upper  hand  of  that  nervous  prostra 
tion?  " 

"Miss  Hollister  was  terribly  frightened,  and — and 
— so  was  I.  I  would  rather  not  hear  about  all  that 
happened  last  night — not  just  yet." 

"And  I  would  rather  not  think  of  it,  just  now, 
Miss  Forbes.  Perhaps  I  ought  to  have  set  ye  ashore 
among  the  Cubans.  I  hope  you  will  not  be  worse  off 
at  sea  again." 

"I  am  glad  to  be  at  sea  again,  with  you,  Captain 
O'Shea,"  said  Nora,  and  she  looked  him  in  the  eyes 
like  a  true  viking's  daughter  who  scorned  subter 
fuge  and  spoke  as  her  heart  moved  her. 

It  was  perhaps  as  well  that  Gerald  Van  Steen  de 
cided  to  join  them  just  then. 

"And  are  ye  convinced  that  the  Spanish  are  not 
a  courteous  people  when  ye  meet  them  by  night?" 
O'Shea  cheerfully  asked  him. 

"Do  you  know,  I  begin  to  like  this  filibustering," 
answered  the  industrious  young  man,  who  looked  as 
trampish  as  any  of  the  crew.  "One  feels  so  well 
pleased  after  he  has  pulled  out  of  one  of  these  scrapes 
that  it  is  almost  worth  while  running  into  it."  He 
turned  to  Nora  and  addressed  her  with  a  shade  of 


THE  CASTAWAYS  71 

appeal  in  his  voice:  "Will  you  sit  down  with  me  for 
a  while?  I  have  no  end  of  things  to  talk  about." 

"Why,  certainly,  Gerald.  Good-by,  Captain 
O'Shea.  The  top  o'  the  morning  to  ye." 

The  captain  bowed  and  raised  his  straw  hat.  His 
ingenuous  countenance  wore  a  somewhat  puzzled 
expression,  as  if  he  beheld  a  new  complication  in 
this  tumultuous  voyage  of  his. 

It  was  well  into  the  forenoon  before  Johnny  Kent 
found  a  breathing-spell  and  climbed  above  to  confer 
with  the  skipper.  The  indomitable  engineer  ap 
peared  aged  and  haggard.  The  pain  of  his  burns 
distressed  him  and  he  was  spent  with  worry  and 
weariness.  His  hands  trembled  as  he  pulled  himself 
up  the  bridge  stairway. 

"I  ain't  as  young  as  I  was,  Cap'n  Mike,"  he  hus 
kily  exclaimed.  "Blamed  if  I  don't  feel  kind  of 
strained  and  shook  up,  same  as  the  poor  old  Fear 
less.  Looks  like  one  of  them  fair-weather  gales, 
don't  it?  Bright  sky  and  a  big  sea  and  wind  to  peel 
your  whiskers  off  before  night." 

"'Tis  a  good  guess,"  soberly  replied  O'Shea. 
"Can  we  weather  it,  Johnny?" 

"I  don't  want  to  make  the  ladies  nervous  and 
fretty,"  confided  the  chief,  "but  we  ain't  keepin* 
the  water  down,  Cap'n  Mike.  It  will  be  in  the 
fire-room  before  dark  at  this  rate " 

"And  then  she  will  fall  off  into  the  trough  of  the 
sea  and  founder,"  said  O'Shea.  "And  we  have  no 
boats.  Will  your  men  stay  on  duty  and  keep  her 
going?" 


72         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"They  will,  Cap'n  Mike.  The  big  nigger  feels 
spry  enough  to  turn  to,  and  the  gang  is  scared  to 
death  of  him.  They  believe  he'll  murder  'em  if 
they  quit  on  me." 

"Well,  Johnny,  make  steam  as  long  as  ye  can, 
and  if  the  weather  will  not  moderate  I  can  try  to 
fetch  up  somewhere  before  she  goes  to  the  bottom." 

"I  ain't  particularly  anxious,  Cap'n  Mike.  I 
never  saw  you  in  a  hole  you  couldn't  work  your 
way  out  of.  Of  course,  there's  the  ladies.  How 
are  they,  anyhow?  The  young  one  is  on  deck, 
lookin'  like  a  morning-glory.  But  what  about  Miss 
Hollister?  She  ain't  sick,  is  she?" 

"Van  Steen  says  the  flurry  last  night  gave  her 
a  sort  of  nervous  prostration,"  answered  O'Shea. 
"She  is  up  and  dressed  now  and  taking  it  easy  in 
her  room.  Maybe  ye  would  like  to  duck  in  and  hand 
her  a  few  kind  words." 

"I  sure  would,"  and  Johnny  Kent  beamed.  "La 
dies  like  her  are  mighty  refined  and  delicate  and  sen 
sitive,  and  they're  liable  to  be  took  with  this  nervous 
prostration.  I  don't  blame  her  a  bit,  Cap'n  Mike. 
Why,  when  we  piled  up  on  that  reef  and  the  gun 
boat  was  fixin'  to  shoot  us  all  to  hell-and-gone,  I 
felt  nervous  myself.  Honest  I  did." 

"Go  to  it,  Johnny,  but  don't  mention  the  fact 
that  we  are  due  to  founder  as  the  next  act  of  this 
continuous  performance." 

It  was  really  extraordinary  to  see  how  much  ani 
mation  came  into  the  face  of  Miss  Hollister  when 
Johnny  Kent  poked  his  gray  head  inside  the  open 


THE  CASTAWAYS  73 

door  and  grinned  a  bashful  greeting.  Never  did  a 
hero  wear  a  more  unromantic  aspect,  but  the  spin 
ster  had  selected  him  as  her  own  particular  hero, 
nevertheless.  He  was  rugged,  elemental,  as  she 
had  come  to  regard  him,  and,  in  fact,  there  was 
something  uncommonly  attractive  to  the  discerning 
eye  in  the  modest  courage,  inflexible  devotion  to 
duty,  and  simple  kindliness  of  this  grizzled  old  sea 
rover. 

"  I'm  ashamed  that  we  had  to  give  you  such  a  scare 
last  night,  ma'am,"  he  began.  "It's  a  hoodooed 
voyage,  .any  way  you  look  at  it.  Why,  Cap'n  Mike 
and  me  ran  a  cargo  into  Hayti  last  summer  and 
you  would  have  enjoyed  it.  Stuff  on  the  beach  in 
three  hours  and  a  funny  old  stone  fort  bangin'  away 
at  us  just  enough  to  keep  all  hands  amused." 

"But  after  this  experience,  you  will  not  dream  of 
going  filibustering  again,  will  you?"  Miss  Hollister 
asked  him. 

Johnny  Kent  tugged  at  his  gray  mustache  and 
looked  rather  blank  as  he  ejaculated: 

"Why  not?  I  ain't  fit  for  anything  else.  Of 
course,  I  get  big  wages  for  runnin'  these  risks,  and 
if  I  can  ever  save  some  money,  I'm  hopin'  to  buy  a 
farm  down  in  Maine  and  raise  chickens  and  such 
truck.  That's  what  I  call  really  excitin'  and  roman 
tic." 

Miss  Hollister  responded  eagerly: 

"And  a  vegetable  garden  and  cows,  and " 

"Yes,  ma'am.  And  flowers  in  the  front  yard — 
hollyhocks,  and  asters,  and  peonies,  and  a  lilac  bush 


74         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

by  the  front  door-step.  I  set  and  think  about  it  a 
lot." 

It  did  not  appeal  to  the  chief  engineer  as  at  all 
incongruous  that  the  conversation  should  have  taken 
this  turn  while  the  ship  was  slowly  sulking  beneath 
them. 

"I  have  been  very  successful  with  flowers," 
brightly  returned  Miss  Hollister.  "I  shall  be  de 
lighted  to  send  you  some  seeds  and  cuttings  when 
ever  you  return  to  New  England  to  live  on  that 
wonderful  farm  of  yours." 

"Thank  you.  Now  when  it  comes  to  chickens, 
for  all-round  service  there  ain't  a  bird  to  beat  the 
Plymouth  Rock.  I  subscribe  to  the  Poultry  Journal, 
and  always  bring  it  to  sea  to  read— 

The  mate  dodged  out  of  the  wheel-house  to  shout: 

"You're  wanted  below,  chief.  The  assistant  sends 
up  word  that  the  loose  coal  is  sucking  into  the  pump 
and  she's  chokin'  up." 

"Don't  worry,  ma'am,"  gently  spoke  Johnny 
Kent  as  he  ceremoniously  shook  Miss  Hollister's 
hand.  "Engines  and  pumps  are  provokin'  critturs 
and  they're  always  getting  out  of  kilter." 

He  paused  outside  to  ask  Captain  O'Shea: 

"What's  the  answer?  Do  we  win  or  lose?  There's 
bad  news  from  below.  The  bunker  coal  is  awash. 
The  pump  is  liable  to  quit  on  me  'most  any  time." 

"  I  have  overhauled  the  charts,  Johnny,  and  there 
is  a  bit  of  a  coral  key  marked  down  thirty  miles 
from  our  present  position,  bearing  sou'-sou'west.  I 
have  changed  me  course  to  head  for  it." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  75 

"Thirty  miles!  Five  hours  or  more  at  the  speed 
we're  makin'.  It  will  be  a  close  finish,  Cap'n  Mike." 

"Life  seems  to  be  a  game  of  close  finishes  for  you 
and  me,  Johnny." 

The  Fearless  wallowed  sluggishly  over  a  rolling, 
foamy,  blue  sea.  Already  the  water  in  the  holds 
had  diminished  her  natural  buoyancy.  The  waves 
leaped  through  her  broken  bulwarks  and  flung  them 
selves  across  the  deck.  The  crew  and  the  remaining 
Cubans  had  a  listless,  discouraged  demeanor.  Their 
energy  was  deadened  by  misfortune.  The  voyage 
was  ill-fated.  Jack  Gorham,  by  contrast,  undertook 
whatever  duty  came  handiest  with  a  kind  of  ma 
chine-like,  routine  fidelity,  unhurried,  efficient,  his 
melancholy  countenance  reflecting  neither  fear  nor 
impatience.  Now  and  then  Jiminez  emerged  from 
the  stoke-hole  to  sluice  his  huge  body  with  pails  of 
salt  water.  At  such  times  Gorham  crossed  the  deck 
to  slap  the  negro  on  his  bare  back  and  speak  words 
of  approval  in  broken  Spanish.  The  responsive  grin 
of  Jiminez  showed  every  big,  white  tooth  in  his  head. 
He  had  found  a  master  whom  he  vastly  respected, 
and  there  was  no  ill-will  between  them. 

Long  before  the  thirty  miles  had  been  run  down 
Captain  O'Shea  was  searching  the  sea  with  his  glasses 
to  find  the  tiny  coral  islet  where  he  hoped  to  find 
refuge.  It  was  out  of  the  track  of  steamer  traffic, 
and  so  far  from  the  Cuban  coast  that  the  danger  of 
discovery  by  the  Spanish  navy  seemed  fairly  remote. 
The  chart  failed  to  indicate  any  harbor,  but  O'Shea 
had  no  expectation  of  saving  his  ship.  He  would 


7  6         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

drive  her  ashore  and  try  to  put  his  people  on  the 
beach. 

At  length  he  was  able  to  descry  a  low,  sandy 
strip  almost  level  with  the  sea,  along  which  the 
breakers  flashed  white  and  green.  It  was  the  key, 
and  as  the  Fearless  moved  nearer  it  was  seen  that 
the  vegetation  comprised  only  a  few  ragged  bushes. 
Desolate,  sun-baked,  and  wind-swept  was  the  place, 
but  it  was  dry  land,  and  better  than  the  deep  sea 
in  a  foundering  ship. 

Captain  O'Shea  laid  down  his  glasses  and  called 
Van  Steen. 

"'Tis  not  what  I  expected,  but  the  Fearless  is 
done  for,"  said  he.  "We  have  fresh  water  and 
stores  to  last  some  time.  And  I  have  faith  enough 
in  me  luck  to  feel  sure  we  will  be  picked  off  that  bit 
of  a  key  yonder.  Please  ask  the  ladies  to  pack 
their  traps,  and  you  will  put  life-belts  around 
them." 

As  the  Fearless  lurched  drunkenly  toward  the 
beach,  it  seemed  as  though  every  comber  would 
stamp  her  under.  The  water  in  the  hold  had  cov 
ered  the  fire-room  floor,  and  was  hissing  and  swash 
ing  under  the  furnaces.  The  deck-hands  were  strung 
along  the  ladder  and  hatch,  bailing  with  buckets  to 
aid  the  choking,  sputtering  steam-pump. 

"I  ain't  got  any  business  to  be  drowned  in  this 
lump  of  a  tug,"  said  Johnny  Kent  to  the  first  assist 
ant.  "  I'm  thinkin'  about  that  farm  with  the  holly 
hocks  and  Plymouth  Rocks." 

"If  that  pump  stops,  which  it  has  symptoms  of 


THE  CASTAWAYS  77 

doing,  you'd  better  be  thinking  of  your  wicked  old 
soul,"  growled  the  assistant. 

"I  can't  swim  a  lick,"  muttered  the  chief  engineer. 

"You'd  better  learn  quick.  There  go  the  fires," 
yelled  the  other  as  clouds  of  steam  poured  out  of 
the  engine-room,  and  the  men  below  came  up  the 
ladder,  fighting,  scrambling,  swearing.  Johnny  Kent 
dodged  the  wild  rush,  glanced  out  to  sea,  and  shouted, 
"Breakers  ahead!  There  are  a  few  more  kicks  in 
the  old  packet  and  she'll  hit  the  beach  yet." 

As  the  steam  pressure  rapidly  ran  down,  the  dying 
engines  turned  over  more  and  more  feebly,  but  the 
propeller  continued  to  push  the  vessel  very  lan 
guidly  into  the  shoal  water.  Presently  she  ceased 
to  move,  there  was  a  slight  jar,  and  she  heeled  to  star 
board.  The  doomed  tug  rested  upon  a  sandy  bot 
tom. 

Now  that  she  was  inert,  aground,  lifting  no  more 
to  the  heave  and  swing  of  the  seas,  the  breakers 
shook  her  with  an  incessant  bombardment.  Spray 
flew  over  the  bridge  and  pelted  into  the  cabin  win 
dows.  The  key  was  about  three  hundred  yards  dis 
tant  from  the  tug.  Between  her  and  the  dry  land 
was  a  strip  of  deeper  water  than  the  shoal  on  which 
she  had  stranded,  and  then  the  wide  barrier  of  surf 
where  the  breakers  tossed  and  tumbled  in  a  thun 
dering  tumult. 

Captain  O'Shea  scanned  the  angry  water  and  won 
dered  how  he  could  send  his  people  through  it.  The 
clumsy  life-raft  was  all  he  had  to  put  them  on.  It 
was  buoyant  enough,  but  unmanageable  in  such 


y8         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

boisterous  weather  as  this,  and  would  most  likely 
be  blown  out  to  sea  and  miss  the  key  entirely.  To 
remain  on  board  and  hope  for  quieter  weather  on 
the  morrow  was  to  risk  pounding  to  pieces  overnight. 

Then  O'Shea  caught  sight  of  the  jagged  timbers  of 
an  ancient  wreck  half  covered  by  the  sand  on  the 
ridge  of  the  key.  If  a  line  could  be  carried  from  the 
ship  and  made  fast  to  one  of  those  stout  timbers, 
the  life-raft  might  be  hauled  through  the  surf. 

"'Tis  a  terrible  swim  to  undertake,"  he  painfully 
reflected.  "I  will  try  it  meself,  but  if  I  go  under 
there  is  nobody  to  take  charge  of  these  people.  My 
men  are  a  rough  lot,  and  it  will  be  hard  living  on 
this  God-forsaken  bit  of  a  key." 

As  if  Jack  Gorham  had  read  what  was  in  the 
skipper's  mind,  he  crawled  across  the  sloping  deck 
and  shouted  something  in  the  ear  of  Jiminez.  The 
negro  nodded  and  waved  an  arm  in  the  direction  of 
the  beach.  The  soldier  was  urging  and  explaining, 
the  other  eagerly  assenting.  Gorham  shouted  to 
the  bridge: 

"This  fine  big  nigger  of  mine  will  carry  a  rope 
ashore.  He  can  swim  like  a  duck,  and  there's  no 
body  aboard  with  half  his  strength." 

"  Aye,  aye,  Jack ! "  exclaimed  O'Shea.  "I  will  give 
him  a  heaving-line,  and  when  he  hits  the  beach  he 
can  haul  a  light  hawser  ashore  and  make  it  fast." 

Jiminez  had  no  need  to  strip  for  active  service, 
clad  as  he  was  only  in  tattered  dungaree  breeches 
chopped  off  above  the  knees.  It  was  apparent  that 
he  proposed  risking  his  life  because  the  soldier  had 


THE  CASTAWAYS  79 

asked  it  of  him.  For  the  lives  of  the  others  he  cared 
not  a  snap  of  his  finger.  Knotting  an  end  of  the 
heaving-line  around  his  waist,  he  poised  himself  upon 
the  guard-rail,  a  herculean  statue  of  ebony.  Gorham 
grasped  his  hand  and  said  in  farewell: 

"You  keep  on  going,  Jiminez,  old  boy,  or  I'll  cave 
in  your  cocoanut  with  the  butt  of  my  Springfield." 

The  negro  grinned  and  shot  downward  into  the 
foaming  sea.  His  round  head  and  gleaming  shoul 
ders  emerged  for  an  instant  and  then  he  dived  again 
to  pass  under  the  toppling  crest  of  a  breaker.  A  few 
overhand  strokes,  and  he  was  in  the  deeper  water 
with  a  hundred  yards  of  comparatively  easy  swim 
ming.  He  ploughed  through  it  with  tremendous  ease 
and  power  while  Captain  O'Shea  paid  out  the  heav 
ing-line  in  his  wake.  Turning  on  his  back,  Jiminez 
rested  before  the  final  struggle  with  the  surf  on  the 
beach. 

The  people  on  the  Fearless  forgot  their  forlorn  situ 
ation.  They  were  absorbed  in  the  picture  of  the 
bright,  hot  sand,  the  dazzling  wall  of  surf,  with  the 
gulls  dipping  and  screaming  overhead,  and  the  toss 
ing  figure  of  the  black  swimmer.  Jiminez  vanished 
in  the  outer  line  of  breakers,  bobbed  into  view  for 
an  instant,  and  was  whirled  over  and  over.  The 
undertow  caught  him  and  pulled  him  down,  but  he 
fought  clear  and  came  to  the  surface,  now  beaten 
seaward,  now  gaining  a  yard  or  so. 

From  the  tug  it  looked  as  though  he  were  being 
battered  about  like  a  piece  of  drifting  wreckage,  but 
the  sea  could  not  drown  him.  More  than  once  the 


8o         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

beholders  were  sure  he  had  been  conquered.  Then 
they  shouted  as  they  saw  him  shoot  landward  on 
the  crested  back  of  a  rearing  comber.  He  felt  the 
sand  with  his  feet.  He  was  knocked  down  and 
rolled  back,  but  regained  a  foothold  and  resisted 
the  drag  of  the  out-rushing  waves.  Wading  power 
fully,  he  stumbled  into  shallow  water  and  fell  on  his 
knees,  too  exhausted  to  walk,  and  crawled  on  all 
fours  to  the  dry  sand.  There  he  sprawled  on  his 
back  like  a  dead  man,  while  the  hearts  of  those  on 
board  the  Fearless  beat  slow  and  heavy  with  sus 
pense.  A  little  while  and  Jiminez  staggered  to  his 
feet,  shook  himself  like  a  dog,  and  made  for  the 
timbers  of  the  old  wreck.  Making  the  end  of  the 
heaving-line  fast,  he  threw  his  arms  over  his  head 
as  a  signal. 

Captain  O'Shea  bent  to  the  other  end  of  the  line 
the  strong  rope  which  he  had  used  for  towing  the 
surf-boats.  Jiminez  sat  himself  down,  dug  his  heels 
in  the  sand,  and  began  to  haul  hi  like  a  human  cap 
stan.  The  rope  trailed  slowly  through  the  surf 
without  mishap,  and  the  negro  firmly  belayed  it  to 
one  of  the  embedded  timbers.  Having  accomplished 
what  he  had  set  out  to  do,  Jiminez  sensibly  rolled 
over,  pillowed  his  head  on  his  arm,  and  let  the  other 
men  rescue  themselves. 

The  life-raft  was  now  shoved  overboard  and  se 
cured  to  the  swaying  rope  by  means  of  pulley  blocks. 
Four  picked  men  and  the  mate  were  detailed  to 
make  the  first  trip,  which  was  in  the  nature  of  an 
experiment.  They  paddled  the  life-raft  across  the 


THE  CASTAWAYS  81 

strip  of  quieter  water,  the  pulleys  holding  them  close 
to  the  fastened  hawser.  When  the  raft  reached  the 
surf,  they  laid  hold  of  the  hawser  and  lustily  hauled 
their  careering  craft  shoreward,  hand  over  hand. 
Drenched  and  breathless,  they  gained  the  beach  and 
sought  a  few  minutes'  rest  before  undertaking  the 
return  journey. 

As  soon  as  the  raft  had  safely  come  back  to  the 
Fearless  Captain  O'Shea  shouted: 

"Now  for  the  ladies!  'Tis  time  they  quit  the  poor 
old  hooker." 

Nora  Forbes  was  waiting,  a  lithe  round  arm  about 
Miss  Hollister's  waist.  The  spinster  was  white  to 
the  lips,  and  her  eyes  sought,  not  the  protecting  care 
of  Gerald  Van  Steen,  but  the  bracing  presence  of 
that  stout-hearted  old  pirate  Johnny  Kent,  who  was 
profanely  wrestling  with  the  fresh-water  barrels. 

"You  will  get  wet,  ladies,"  said  O'Shea,  "but  'tis 
not  at  all  dangerous.  The  raft  will  take  you  through 
the  surf  like  a  toboggan.  Mr.  Van  Steen  will  go 
with  you.  Ye  are  a  brave  pair,  and  I  would  ask  no 
better  shipmates." 

The  raft  was  pitching  and  bucking  alongside,  but 
the  lower  deck  of  the  vessel  was  now  level  with  the 
sea.  O'Shea  caught  Miss  Hollister  in  his  arms, 
waded  to  the  rail  with  her  and  waited  until  Van 
Steen  and  the  other  men  were  ready  to  catch  her. 
Then  with  a  wrenching  heave,  O'Shea  tossed  her 
into  their  outstretched  arms.  It  was  Nora  Forbes's 
turn  to  leave  the  vessel. 

"You  will  pardon  the  liberty,"  O'Shea  whispered 


82         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

in  her  ear,  "but  this  is  no  small  consolation  for  los 
ing  me  ship." 

He  swung  her  clear  of  the  deck  and  her  arms, 
perforce,  had  to  cling  around  his  neck  while  he  bal 
anced  himself  with  sailorly  agility  and  waited  for 
the  tug  to  right  itself  and  the  raft  to  rise  on  the 
next  wave.  Perhaps  he  held  her  a  moment  longer 
than  was  necessary.  Captain  Michael  O'Shea  was  a 
man  with  a  warm  heart  and  red  blood  in  him. 
Deftly  and  carefully  he  swung  her  over  the  rail,  and 
the  men  on  the  raft  placed  her  beside  Miss  Hollister. 
Nora  waved  her  hand  in  a  blithe  farewell.  Miss 
Hollister  had  closed  her  eyes,  but  she  opened  them 
quickly  enough  when  Johnny  Kent  came  rolling  aft 
to  flourish  his  cap  and  shout: 

"Sorry  I  can't  make  the  passage  with  you.  We'll 
have  lots  of  time  to  talk  flowers  and  hens  on  that 
patch  of  sand,  but  it  looks  like  mighty  poor  soil  for 
gardenin',  ma'am." 

Guided  by  the  pulley-blocks  that  creaked  along 
the  hawser,  the  raft  made  the  tempestuous  passage 
through  the  surf.  The  shipwrecked  ladies  set  them 
selves  down  on  a  sandy  hummock  in  the  hot  sun 
shine.  They  were  waterlogged  and  appeared  quite 
calm  and  collected  because  they  lacked  strength  for 
anything  else. 

The  raft  plied  to  and  fro  in  a  race  against  time. 
Such  stores  as  would  be  damaged  by  wetting  were 
wrapped  in  tarpaulins.  The  precious  water-barrels 
were  filled  from  the  ship's  tank,  and  the  wise  Johnny 
Kent  packed  spare  copper  piping,  a  gasolene  torch, 


THE   CASTAWAYS  83 

empty  tin  cases,  and  tools  for  making  a  condenser  to 
distil  salt  water.  Captain  O'Shea  took  care  to  send 
all  the  arms  which  had  been  served  out  to  the  crew, 
besides  several  boxes  of  rifles  and  ammunition  that 
had  been  overlooked  in  dumping  the  cargo.  Also 
he  saved  a  number  of  shovels  and  picks  designed  for 
use  as  intrenching  tools. 

Before  the  last  load  of  stuff  had  been  hauled  to 
the  beach,  the  Fearless  was  driven  so  far  on  the  shoal 
that  she  began  to  break  amidships.  O'Shea  ordered 
Colonel  Calvo  and  his  Cubans  off  the  vessel,  and 
then  sent  his  crew  ashore.  He  was  left  on  board 
with  Johnny  Kent,  Jack  Gorham,  and  the  men 
needed  to  help  manage  the  life-raft.  The  little 
group  stood  in  the  lee  of  the  deck-house.  The 
tragedy  of  the  ship  oppressed  them.  They  were 
mourners  at  the  funeral  of  a  faithful  friend.  Senti 
mental  Johnny  Kent  exclaimed  with  a  husky  note 
in  his  voice: 

"The  Fearless  did  her  best  for  us,  Cap'n  Mike. 
It's  a  rotten  finish  for  a  respectable,  God-fearin* 
tow-boat." 

"She  was  a  good  little  vessel,  Johnny,"  softly 
quoth  O'Shea.  "But  those  guns  we  dumped  in  the 
bay  will  come  in  mighty  useful  to  old  Maximo 
Gomez,  and  maybe  the  voyage  is  worth  while  after 
all." 

"I  seem  to  be  sort  of  side-tracked,  but  I  ain't 
complainin',"  murmured  Jack  Gorham.  "I  hope 
the  Cubans  will  keep  the  rebellion  moving  along 
until  I  can  get  to  'em  and  help  mix  it  up." 


84         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

One  by  one  they  jumped  to  the  raft  and  Captain 
O'Shea  was  the  last  man  to  leave.  With  a  shake  of 
the  head  he  turned  to  gaze  no  more  at  the  Fearless, 
but  at  the  disconsolate  cluster  of  men  on  the  key, 
who  were  waiting  for  him  to  take  command. 

IV 

WITH  ready  resource  and  dynamic  energy,  O'Shea 
proceeded  to  organize  the  refugees.  The  dreary 
little  sand-bank  was  no  longer  populated  by  dis 
couraged  loafers,  but  by  busy,  shouting  toilers  who 
made  a  camp  with  the  cheerful  zest  of  children  at 
play.  There  were  tarpaulins,  storm-sails,  and  awn 
ings  to  fashion  shelters  from  the  sun  and  rain.  The 
beach  was  strewn  with  an  accumulation  of  drift-wood 
which  served  to  cut  into  uprights  and  cross-pieces 
that  were  lashed  together  with  bits  of  line.  In  this 
wise  a  tent  was  built  for  the  two  women.  It  was 
set  apart  from  the  other  camps  with  an  ingenious 
amount  of  comfort  and  privacy. 

The  crew  of  the  Fearless  flocked  together,  while 
Colonel  Calvo  and  his  Cubans  established  themselves 
in  quarters  of  their  own.  All  this  was  a  two  days' 
task,  at  the  end  of  which  the  shipwrecked  company, 
utterly  fagged,  slept  and  rested  most  earnestly  and 
took  no  thought  of  the  morrow.  The  blessed  respite 
from  excitements  and  alarms  lulled  them  like  an 
anodyne. 

When,  at  length,  the  camp  came  out  of  its  trance, 
Captain  O'Shea  discovered  that  his  work  was  cut 


THE  CASTAWAYS  85 

out  for  him  to  devise  a  daily  routine  which  should 
maintain  obedience,  discipline,  and  good -nature. 
His  own  men  were  accustomed  to  an  active  life, 
their  energy  was  exuberant,  and  when  not  fighting 
the  sea  they  enjoyed  fighting  among  themselves. 
On  shipboard  they  obeyed  by  instinct  because  it 
was  the  iron  tradition  of  their  calling,  but  on  the 
key  these  bonds  were  inevitably  loosened. 

While  this  was  to  be  expected,  the  behavior  of 
the  surviving  patriots  was  nothing  short  of  phe 
nomenal.  They  were  rid  of  the  curse  of  the  sea 
which  had  wilted  them  body  and  soul.  The  im 
movable  land  was  under  their  feet.  They  laughed 
and  displayed  an  astonishing  vivacity.  They  strut 
ted  importantly,  soldiers  unafraid.  Even  Colonel 
Calvo  was  reanimated.  His  sword  clanked  at  his 
side.  Large  silver  spurs  clashed  on  the  heels  of  his 
boots  and  he  perceived  nothing  absurd  in  wearing 
them.  His  attitude  toward  Captain  O'Shea  was 
haughty,  even  distant.  It  was  apparent  that  this 
miraculously  revived  warrior  considered  himself  the 
ranking  officer  of  the  island.  He  signified  that  he 
would  take  entire  charge  of  matters  in  his  own 
camp. 

O'Shea  was  surprised.  At  sea  the  patriots  had 
been  so  much  bothersome,  unlovely  freight. 

"'Tis  comical,"  he  said  to  himself.  "I  took  it 
for  granted  that  I  was  the  boss  of  the  whole  outfit." 

Common-sense  and  experience  told  Captain  O'Shea 
that  he  must  keep  all  hands  busy,  if  he  had  to  in 
vent  work  for  them.  He  therefore  staked  out  a 


86         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

rectangular  space  of  considerable  extent  and  set 
them  to  throwing  up  sand  to  form  four  walls  several 
feet  thick  within  which  the  company  might  find 
shelter.  It  was  a  simple  pattern  of  earthworks, 
but  more  efficient  to  resist  bullet  and  shell  than 
stone  or  concrete. 

"We  may  not  need  to  scuttle  into  it,"  he  ex 
plained  to  Jack  Gorham,  "but  if  one  of  those  Span 
ish  blockadin'  craft  should  accidentally  cruise  off 
shore,  we  will  be  in  shape  to  stand  her  off.  Any 
how,  it  will  keep  our  tarriers  occupied  for  a  while." 

"How  do  you  frame  it  up  that  we're  goin'  to  get 
away  from  this  gob  of  sand?"  asked  the  chief  en 
gineer.  "Not  that  I'm  fretty,  Cap'n  Mike,  or 
findin'  fault,  but  I've  seen  places  that  I  liked  bet 
ter." 

"We  will  mark  time  a  little  longer,  Johnny,  and 
then  if  a  schooner  or  steamer  doesn't  happen  by,  I 
will  rig  a  sail  on  the  life-raft,  and  send  it  to  the 
south'ard.  How  are  the  ladies  to-day?  I  have  had 
no  tune  to  pay  a  social  call." 

"Miss  Hollister  don't  seem  as  droopin'  as  she  was. 
I  dried  out  a  pack  of  cards  that  was  in  my  jumper, 
and  we  played  some  whist.  If  you  want  to  set  in, 
Cap'n  Mike,  I'll  drop  out.  I  ain't  really  graceful 
and  easy  in  a  game  where  there's  more  than  five 
cards  dealt  to  a  hand." 

"Thank  you,  but  I  am  handicapped  in  the  same 
way,  Johnny.  I  will  stroll  over  and  pay  me  respects 
before  supper." 

"Miss  Forbes  seemed  a  mite  peevish  that  you 


THE  CASTAWAYS  87 

haven't  made  more  tracks  toward  their  tent,"  ob 
served  the  engineer. 

"Pshaw,  they  are  glad  to  have  the  chance  to  be 
by  themselves." 

Nevertheless,  Captain  O'Shea  appeared  interested 
when  he  spied  Miss  Forbes  sauntering  alone  on  the 
beach,  and  at  some  distance  from  her  tent. 

"Miss  Hollister  is  asleep  and  Mr.  Van  Steen  is 
trying  to  mend  his  shoes  with  a  piece  of  wire,"  said 
Nora.  "And  I  have  done  my  week's  washing  like 
an  industrious  girl,  and  now  I'm  looking  for  some 
one  to  play  with." 

"Would  you  like  to  walk  to  the  far  end  of  the 
key,  Miss  Forbes?  And  then,  perhaps,  ye  would 
care  to  inspect  the  camps.  We  have  a  ship-shape 
little  settlement,  if  I  do  say  it  meself." 

"An  exploring  expedition?  I  shall  be  delighted," 
cried  she,  unconsciously  glancing  at  the  tent  which 
hid  the  chaperon  and  also  Gerald  Van  Steen. 

They  strolled  a  little  way  without  speaking. 
O'Shea  halted  to  gaze  at  the  wreck  of  the  Fearless. 
With  quick  sympathy,  the  girl  understood  and  made 
no  comment.  He  turned  away  with  a  sorrowful 
smile  and  broke  the  silence. 

"'Tis  strange  how  close  a  man's  ship  is  to  his 
heart.  I  wish  I  did  not  have  to  see  her." 

"There  will  be  other  ships  for  a  man  like  you, 
Captain  O'Shea,"  said  Nora. 

"But  never  a  voyage  like  this  one,  Miss  Forbes." 

"I  was  thinking  the  same  thought.  For  me  there 
will  never  be  a  voyage  like  this,  Captain  O'Shea." 


88         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"For  misfortune  and  bedivilment  generally,  do  ye 
mean?"  he  asked  rather  hastily. 

"No,  I  do  not  mean  that,"  and  she  spoke  in  a 
low  voice  as  if  talking  to  herself.  "I  have  enjoyed 
it.  I  suppose  I  am  very  queer  and  shocking,  but  I 
shall  look  back  to  this  experience  all  my  life  and  be 
glad  that  it  came  to  me." 

The  shipmaster  wondered  how  much  she  meant. 
Her  intonations  told  him  that  it  was  something  per 
sonal  and  intimate.  Perhaps  other  women  had  made 
love  to  Cap  tarn  Michael  O'Shea,  but  never  one  like 
Nora  Forbes.  Amid  circumstances  so  strange  and 
exotic,  so  utterly  removed  from  the  normal  scheme 
of  things,  it  was  as  natural  as  breathing  that  speech 
should  be  sincere  and  emotions  genuine. 

O'Shea  had  a  curiously  delicate  sense  of  honor. 
He  could  not  forget  Gerald  Van  Steen.  Nora  had 
promised  to  marry  him.  Steering  the  conversation 
away  from  dangerous  ground,  he  said: 

"I  have  changed  me  opinion  of  Mr.  Van  Steen. 
He  has  behaved  very  well.  He  did  not  understand 
us  at  first." 

Nora  was  not  as  interested  as  before,  and  replied 
rather  carelessly: 

"He  has  worked  hard  because  you  and  Mr.  Kent 
compelled  him  to." 

"You  are  not  fair  to  him,"  warmly  returned 
O'Shea.  "There  is  not  a  man  in  the  crew  that  has 
stood  up  to  it  any  better.  Nor  am  I  warped  in  his 
favor,  for  I  will  own  up  that  he  rubbed  me  the 
wrong  way  at  first." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  89 

"Of  course,  I  have  admired  the  way  he  handled 
himself  on  board  the  Fearless"  admitted  Nora,  her 
conscience  uneasy  that  she  should  be  so  laggard  a 
champion.  "But  I  hardly  expected  to  hear  you 
sing  his  praises,  Captain  O'Shea." 

"Why  not?  I  would  give  me  dearest  enemy  his 
deserts" — he  hesitated  and  bluntly  added — "and 
then  if  he  got  in  my  way  I  would  do  me  best  to 
wipe  him  off  the  map." 

"If  he  got  in  your  way?"  murmured  Nora.  "I 
should  hate  to  be  the  man  that  stood  in  your  way." 

"If  there  is  to  be  straight  talk  between  us,"  de 
manded  O'Shea,  "tell  me  why  ye  show  no  more 
pleasure  that  this  voyage  has  knocked  the  foolish 
ness  out  of  Van  Steen  and  made  a  two-fisted  man 
of  him?  When  he  came  aboard  he  was  an  imita 
tion  man  that  had  been  spoiled  by  his  money. 
He  is  different  now.  Can  ye  not  see  it  for  your 
self?" 

"Yes,  I  see  it,"  replied  Nora,  regarding  O'Shea 
with  a  demeanor  oddly  perplexed.  He  was  not 
playing  the  game  to  her  liking.  The  interview  had 
been  twisted  to  lead  her  into  a  blind  alley.  With  a 
petulant  exclamation,  she  walked  briskly  toward  the 
farther  end  of  the  key.  O'Shea  followed,  admiring, 
cogitating. 

Overtaking  her,  he  indicated  a  broken  topmast 
washed  ashore  from  some  tall  sailing-ship,  and  they 
found  seats  upon  it.  The  hypnotic  spell  of  the  sea 
took  hold  of  them  both  until  Nora  turned  and  pro- 
testingly  exclaimed: 


90        ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Aren't  you  fearfully  tired  of  seeing  nothing  but 
this  great,  blue,  empty  expanse  of  salt  water?" 

"My  eyes  could  never  tire  if  I  had  you  to  look 
at,"  said  he,  not  by  way  of  making  love  to  her,  but 
as  a  simple  statement  of  fact. 

Nora  appeared  happier.  This  buccaneer  of  hers 
was  becoming  more  tractable,  but  he  perversely 
hauled  about  on  another  tack  and  added: 

"As  long  as  there  are  ships  to  sail  the  sea,  there 
will  be  men  to  go  in  them,  men  that  will  never  tire 
of  salt  water  though  it  treats  them  cruel.  They  will 
hear  the  voices  of  sweethearts  and  wives  on  shore, 
but  they  will  not  listen.  The  hands  of  little  chil 
dren  will  beckon,  but  they  will  not  stay.  'Tis  fine 
to  be  warm  and  dry  in  a  house,  and  to  see  the  green 
things  grow,  and  men  and  women  living  like  Chris 
tians,  but  if  you  are  the  seafarin'  kind,  you  must  find 
a  ship  and  put  out  of  port  again.  I  am  one  of  those 
that  will  never  tire  of  it,  Miss  Forbes.  Poor  old 
Johnny  Kent  is  different.  He  sits  and  sighs  for  his 
farm  and  will  talk  you  deaf  about  it.  My  father 
was  a  shipmaster  before  me,  and  his  people  were 
fishermen  in  the  Western  Islands." 

Nora  sighed.  O'Shea's  caressing  voice  rose  and 
fell  with  a  sort  of  melancholy  rhythm,  an  inheritance 
from  his  Celtic  forebears.  It  was  as  though  he  were 
chanting  a  farewell  to  her.  Her  lovely,  luminous 
eyes  were  suffused.  The  wind  was  warm  and  soft, 
but  she  shivered  slightly. 

"We  had  better  turn  back  to  the  camp,"  said  she. 
"My  aunt  will*be  looking  for  me." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  91 

They  walked  along  the  shining  beach,  thinking 
many  things  which  could  not  find  expression. 
O'Shea  left  her  near  her  tent  and  was  about  to  go 
to  his  own  quarters  when  he  overheard  a  stormy 
meeting  between  Nora  and  Gerald  Van  Steen.  He 
hastened  on  his  way,  ashamed  that  he  should  have 
been  an  unwitting  eavesdropper.  It  was  most  em 
phatically  none  of  his  business.  His  cheek  red 
dened,  however,  and  he  felt  gusty  anger  that  Nora 
should  be  taken  to  task  for  strolling  to  the  end  of 
the  key  with  him. 

"A  jealous  man  is  the  most  unreasonable  work 
of  God,"  he  said  to  himself.  "'Twas  a  harmless 
walk  we  had." 

Duty  diverted  Captain  O'Shea  from  considering 
the  disturbed  emotions  of  Gerald  Van  Steen.  Ra 
tions  must  be  measured  out  and  inspected,  the 
muster  roll  called,  the  sick  visited,  and  the  sentries 
appointed  for  the  night.  He  had  finished  these 
tasks  and  was  standing  near  his  tent  when  Van 
Steen  approached  in  a  hurried,  angry  manner. 
Surmising  the  cause,  O'Shea  caught  him  by  the  arm 
and  led  him  in  the  direction  of  the  beach,  away  from 
the  curious  eyes  and  ears  of  the  camp. 

Van  Steen  wrenched  himself  free  with  a  threaten 
ing  gesture.  He  had  worked  himself  into  a  passion 
childishly  irrational.  O'Shea  was  inwardly  amused, 
but  his  face  was  grave  as  he  inquired: 

"Why  these  hostile  symptoms?  Do  not  shout  it 
all  over  the  place.  Tell  it  to  me  easy  and  get  it 
out  of  your  system." 


92         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

This  casual  reception  rather  stumped  young  Mr. 
Van  Steen.  He  gulped,  made  a  false  start  or  two, 
and  sullenly  replied: 

"You  and  I  will  have  it  out  as  man  to  man, 
O'Shea." 

"Captain  O'Shea,  if  ye  please,  while  I  command 
this  expedition,"  softly  spoke  the  other.  "As  man 
to  man?  You  have  been  a  man  only  since  I  took 
charge  of  your  education.  Are  ye  sure  you  are 
ready  to  qualify?" 

The  shipmaster's  smile  was  frosty,  and  his  glance 
was  exceedingly  alert.  Van  Steen  raised  his  voice 
to  an  unsteady  pitch  as  he  cried: 

"That  is  a  cheap  insult.  It  shows  what  you  are 
under  the  skin.  Now,  I  don't  propose  to  bring 
her — to  bring  any  one's  name  into  this — but  you 
are  to  keep  away,  understand?  It  has  to  stop." 

"Did  any  one  request  ye  to  tell  me  to  keep  away, 
as  ye  put  it  in  your  tactful  way?"  blandly  suggested 
O'Shea. 

"No;  this  is  my  affair.  There  has  been  enough 
of  this  blarneying  nonsense  of  yours,  and  watching 
for  a  chance  when  my  back  is  turned.  If  you  were 
a  gentleman,  there  would  be  no  necessity  of  telling 
you  this." 

The  veneer  had  been  quite  thoroughly  removed 
from  the  conventional  surfaces  of  Gerald  Ten  Eyck 
Van  Steen.  He  was  the  primitive  man  ready  to 
fight  for  his  woman.  O'Shea  was  divided  between 
respect  for  him  and  a  desire  to  swing  a  fist  against 
his  jaw. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  93 

"We  have  no  gentlemen  in  my  trade,  of  course," 
he  retorted.  "Now  and  then  we  pick  up  one  of  them 
adrift  and  do  our  best  for  him,  and  he  turns  to  and 
blackguards  us  for  our  pains.  Have  ye  more  to  say?  " 

"Considerably  more.  It  is  an  awfully  awkward 
matter  to  discuss,  but  it  is  my  right,  and — and " 

O'Shea  interrupted  vehemently: 

"The  hot  sun  has  addled  your  brain.  For  heav 
en's  sake,  stop  where  you  are.  If  it  was  me  inten 
tion  to  make  love  to  the  girl  and  try  to  win  her  for 
myself,  I  would  go  straight  to  you.  You  would  not 
have  to  come  to  me." 

"You  are  a  liar  and  a  sneak,  and  I  think  you  are 
a  coward  unless  you  have  your  men  at  your  back," 
almost  screamed  Van  Steen. 

"Which  I  will  take  from  no  man,"  returned 
O'Shea,  and  he  swung  from  the  shoulder  and 
stretched  the  young  man  flat  on  the  sand.  Several 
seamen  and  Cubans  beheld  this  episode  and  ran 
thither. 

"Pick  yourself  up  and  keep  your  mouth  shut," 
exhorted  O'Shea,  "or  ye  will  be  draggin'  some  one's 
name  into  this  after  all." 

Van  Steen  was  sobbing  as  he  scrambled  to  his 
feet,  let  fly  with  his  fists,  and  was  again  knocked 
down  by  a  buffet  on  the  side  of  the  head.  O'Shea 
turned  to  order  the  men  back  to  camp,  and  then 
quizzically  surveyed  the  dazed  champion. 

"You  will  fight  a  duel  with  me  or  I'll  shoot  you," 
cried  Van  Steen.  "At  daylight  to-morrow — with 
revolvers — at  the  other  end  of  the  key." 


94         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"I  will  not!"  curtly  replied  O'Shea.  "Ye  might 
put  a  hole  through  me,  and  what  good  would  that 
do?  'Tis  my  business  to  get  these  people  away,  and 
keep  them  alive  in  the  meantime.  As  for  shooting 
me  informally,  if  I  catch  you  with  a  gun  I  will  clap 
ye  in  irons." 

"But  you  knocked  me  down  twice,"  protested 
Van  Steen. 

"And  ye  called  me  hard  names.  We  are  quits. 
Now  run  along  and  wash  off  your  face." 

The  misguided  young  man  marched  sadly  up  the 
beach  to  find  solitude,  and  was  seen  no  more  until 
long  after  night.  O'Shea  stared  at  his  retreating 
figure  and  sagaciously  reflected: 

"He  wants  to  fight  a  duel!  'Tis  quite  the  proper 
thing.  He  figures  it  out  that  he  is  a  buccaneer  on 
a  desert  island,  and  'tis  his  duty  to  play  the  part. 
Consistency  is  a  jewel." 

It  seemed  improbable  that  Van  Steen  had  acted 
wholly  on  his  own  initiative.  Then  the  provoca 
tion  must  have  come  from  Nora  herself.  And  what 
could  have  aroused  Van  Steen  to  such  a  jealous 
frenzy  but  her  admission  that  she  was  fond  of  the 
company  of  Captain  O'Shea? 

"Right  there  is  where  I  stop  tryin'  to  unravel  it," 
soliloquized  the  skipper.  "  'Tis  not  proper  for  a  man 
to  confess  such  thoughts.  But  I  have  no  doubt  at 
all  that  she  stirred  him  up  when  he  scolded  her  for 
walking  on  the  beach  with  me  this  afternoon." 

In  the  evening  Johnny  Kent  became  inquisitive. 
There  was  something  on  his  mind,  and  he  shifted 


THE  CASTAWAYS  95 

about  uneasily  and  lighted  his  pipe  several  times 
before  venturing  to  observe: 

"I  sort  of  wandered  down  to  the  beach,  Cap'n 
Mike,  when  you  and  the  millionaire  coal-heaver 
were  quarrellin'.  I  didn't  mean  to  butt  in  and  I 
hung  back  as  long  as  I  could— 

"Forget  whatever  you  heard,  Johnny.  It  was  a 
tempest  in  a  teapot." 

The  engineer  scratched  another  match,  cleared  his 
throat,  and  diffidently  resumed: 

"Excuse  me,  but  there  was  words  about  a  duel. 
I  was  interested — personally  interested,  you  under 
stand." 

"How  in  blazes  did  it  concern  you?"  laughed 
O'Shea. 

"Never  you  mind,"  darkly  answered  Johnny  Kent. 
"Tell  me,  Cap'n  Mike,  ain't  you  goin'  to  inform  the 
young  lady  that  there  came  near  being  a  duel  fought 
over  her?" 

"Of  course  not.    And  don't  you  blab  it." 

"But  she'd  feel  terrible  flattered.  Women  just 
dote  on  having  duels  fought  over  'em,  accordin'  to 
all  I've  read  in  story-books.  Seems  to  me  you  ought 
to  stand  up  and  swap  a  couple  of  shots  with  Van 
Steen  just  to  please  the  girl." 

"I  had  not  looked  at  it  from  just  that  angle," 
amiably  returned  O'Shea.  "You  surely  are  a 
thoughtful,  soft-hearted  old  pirate." 

"Well,  the  girl  will  get  wind  of  it,  Cap'n  Mike. 
She's  bound  to.  And  maybe  she'll  feel  pleased,  to 
a  certain  extent,  that  a  duel  was  pretty  near  fought 
over  her." 


96         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"But  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  you  personally? " 
O'Shea  demanded.  '  'Tis  none  of  your  duel,  Johnny. 
You  would  make  a  fine  target.  I  could  hit  that 
broad-beamed  carcass  with  me  two  eyes  shut." 

"And  maybe  I  could- put  a  hole  in  your  coppers 
with  my  eyes  open,"  was  the  tart  rejoinder.  "Any 
how,  you  agree  with  me,  Cap'n  Mike,  don't  you, 
that  there's  no  solider  compliment  with  more  heft 
and  ballast  to  it  than  to  fight  a  duel  over  a  lady?" 

"I  will  take  your  word  for  it  if  ye  will  only  ex 
plain  what  it  is  all  about,"  yawned  O'Shea. 

"A  man  don't  have  to  tell  all  he  knows,"  was  the 
enigmatical  reply. 

Whereupon  Johnny  Kent  rolled  over  on  his 
blanket,  but  he  did  not  snore  for  some  time.  Star 
ing  at  the  canvas  roof,  or  beyond  it  at  the  starlit 
night,  he  revolved  great  thoughts. 

Fortune  occasionally  favors  the  brave.  Next 
morning  the  chief  engineer  trundled  himself  across 
the  intervening  sand  to  pay  his  respects  to  Miss 
Hollister.  The  comparative  calm  of  existence  on 
the  key  was  mending  her  shattered  nerves.  She 
felt  a  singularly  serene  confidence  that  the  party 
would  be  rescued  ere  long,  and  the  healthful  out 
door  life  hastened  the  process  of  recuperation.  With 
feminine  ingenuity  she  managed  to  make  her  scanty 
wardrobe  appear  both  fresh  and  attractive.  Her 
favorite  diversion  was  to  sit  on  the  sand  while 
Johnny  Kent  traced  patterns  of  his  imaginary  farm 
with  a  bit  of  stick.  Here  was  the  pasture,  there 
the  hay-field,  yonder  the  brook,  indicated  by  a  wrig 
gling  line.  The  house  would  be  in  this  place,  large 


THE  CASTAWAYS  97 

trees  in  front,  a  sailor's  hammock  swung  between 
two  of  them.  Miss  Hollister  had  several  times 
changed  the  location  of  the  flower-beds  and  paths, 
and  was  particularly  interested  in  the  poultry- 
yards. 

Just  before  Johnny  Kent  loomed  athwart  her 
placid  horizon  on  this  momentous  morning,  the  con 
tented  spinster  was  tracing  on  the  white  carpet  of 
sand  a  tentative  outline  of  the  asparagus-bed  to  be 
submitted  to  his  critical  eye.  A  shadow  caused  her 
to  glance  up,  and  her  startled  vision  beheld  not  the 
comfortable  bulk  and  rubicund  visage  of  the  chief 
engineer,  but  the  martial  figure  and  saturnine  coun 
tenance  of  Colonel  Calvo.  He  was  still  arrayed  in 
the  panoply  of  war.  The  front  of  his  straw  hat  was 
pinned  back  by  a  tiny  Cuban  flag.  His  white  uni 
form,  somewhat  dingy,  was  brave  with  medals  and 
brass  buttons,  and  the  tarnished  spurs  tinkled  at 
his  high  heels.  Unaware  that  he  was  Miss  Hollister's 
pet  aversion,  the  gallant  colonel  bowed  low  with  his 
hand  on  his  heart,  smiled  a  smile  warranted  to  bring 
the  most  obdurate  senorita  fluttering  from  her  perch, 
and  affably  exclaimed: 

"I  have  the  honor  to  ask,  is  your  health  pretty 
good?  We  have  suffer'  together.  I  promise  my 
self  to  come  before,  but  my  brave  mens  have  need 


me." 


"There  is  no  reason  why  you  should  trouble  your 
self  on  my  account,  I  am  sure,"  crisply  replied  Miss 
Hollister.  "Captain  O'Shea  is  taking  the  best  of 
care  of  us,  thank  you." 


98         ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  colonel  assumed  a  graceful  pose,  one  hand  on 
his  hip,  the  other  toying  with  his  jaunty  mustache. 
How  could  any  woman  resist  him? 

"I  will  be  so  glad  to  have  you  inspec'  my  camp," 
said  he,  staring  at  her  very  boldly.  "It  is  ver'  mili 
tary.  That  Captain  O'Shea" — an  eloquent  shrug — 
"he  is  good  on  the  sea,  but  he  is  not  a  soldier,  to 
know  camps  like  me." 

"Captain  O'Shea  has  offered  to  show  me  the 
camps.  He  is  in  command,  I  believe." 

"That  fellow  do  not  comman'  me.  Will  you  come 
to-night?  My  soldiers  will  sing  for  you  the  songs 
of  Cuba  Libre" 

"No,  I  thank  you."  Miss  Hollister  was  positively 
discourteous. 

"Ah,  so  beautiful  a  woman  and  so  cruel,"  sighed 
the  colonel,  ogling  her  with  his  most  fatal  glances. 

Miss  Hollister  spied  Johnny  Kent  coming  at  top 
speed,  and  she  looked  so  radiant  that  Colonel  Calvo 
spun  round  to  discover  the  reason.  With  a  con 
temptuous  laugh  he  remarked: 

"The  greasy  ol'  man  of  the  engines!  I  do  not 
like  him." 

Johnny  Kent  had  read  the  meaning  of  the  tab 
leau.  The  colonel  was  making  himself  unpleasant 
to  Miss  Hollister.  And  the  breeze  carried  to  his 
ear  the  unflattering  characterization  of  himself. 

"He's  playing  right  into  my  hands.  It  couldn't 
happen  nicer  if  I  had  arranged  it  myself,"  said  the 
chief  engineer  under  his  breath.  His  mien  was  as 
fierce  as  that  of  an  indignant  walrus  as  he  bore  down 


THE  CASTAWAYS  99 

on  the  pair  and,  without  deigning  to  notice  Colonel 
Calvo,  exclaimed  to  Miss  Hollister: 

"Was  anybody  makin'  himself  unwelcome  to  you 
just  now?  If  so,  I'll  be  pleased  to  remove  him  some 
where  else." 

"You  will  min'  your  own  business,"  grandly  de 
claimed  Colonel  Calvo. 

"You  needn't  answer  my  question,  ma'am,"  re 
sumed  Johnny  Kent.  "This  pestiferous  Cuban  gent 
wanders  over  here  without  bein'  invited  and  makes 
himself  unpopular.  It's  as  plain  as  a  picture  on  the 
wall." 

The  spinster  realized  that  it  was  her  duty  to  in 
tervene  as  a  peace-maker  between  these  belligerents, 
but  she  felt  powerless  to  move  from  the  spot,  which 
happened  to  be  in  the  middle  of  Johnny  Kent's  im 
aginary  pasture,  between  the  brook  and  the  hay- 
field.  The  proprietor  thereof,  advancing  close  to 
Colonel  Calvo,  thundered,  "Ha!  Ha!"  and  firmly 
grasped  the  warrior's  nose  between  a  mighty  thumb 
and  forefinger.  The  colonel  yelled  with  rage  and 
pain,  and  fumbled  for  the  hilt  of  his  sword.  With 
dignified  deliberation  the  chief  engineer  released  the 
imprisoned  nose,  turned  the  colonel  squarely  around 
by  the  shoulders,  and  kicked  him  until  his  spurs 
jingled  like  little  bells. 

"There!  I  hope  you're  real  insulted,  right  down 
to  the  heels,"  commented  the  avenger. 

Colonel  Calvo  painfully  straightened  himself,  man 
aged  to  haul  the  sword  clear  of  the  Scabbard,  waved 
it  undecidedly  and  shrieked: 


ioo      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Mos'  likely  you  have  the  pistol  in  your  pants 
to  kill  me  with.  I  will  fight  the  duello  with  you. 
You  have  insult'  me  in  my  mortal  part.  You  re 
fuse  me  to  fight  with  pistols,  quick,  as  soon  as  it 
can  be  arrange'?" 

"Bully  for  you,"  cordially  answered  Johnny  Kent. 
"Sure  thing.  I'll  be  delighted."  He  had  one  eye 
on  Miss  Hollister  as  he  continued  in  resonant  tones: 
"We  will  duel  to  the  death." 

"I  will  sen'  my  frien'  to  see  your  frien',  senor," 
was  the  grandiloquent  response  of  Colonel  Calvo. 
"An'  I  will  kill  you  mos'  awful  dead." 

"  It  will  be  a  pleasure  to  turn  up  my  toes  in  defence 
of  a  lady,"  fervently  declaimed  the  engineer  as  Colo 
nel  Calvo  limped  in  the  direction  of  his  own  camp, 
filling  the  air  with  such  explosive  imprecations  that 
it  was  as  though  he  left  a  string  of  cannon-crackers 
in  his  wake.  Johnny  Kent  mopped  his  face,  smiled 
contentedly,  and  turned  his  attention  to  the  dum- 
founded  spinster. 

"But  are  you  in  earnest?"  she  gasped. 

"Never  more  so,  ma'am,"  and  he  added,  with 
seeming  irrelevance,  "I  suppose  you  have  heard  that 
Cap'n  O'Shea  and  Mr.  Van  Steen  came  near  fightin' 
a  duel  yesterday  afternoon." 

"Yes,  Mr.  Van  Steen  admitted  as  much.  It  was 
a  most  inexplicable  affair.  What  in  the  world  has  it 
to  do  with  your  terrible  quarrel  with  Colonel  Calvo?  " 

"You  understand  just  why  I  am  perpetratin'  the 
duel  with  the  colonel,  don't  you,  ma'am?"  asked 
Johnny  Kent,  showing  some  slight  anxiety. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  101 

"  I — I  imagine — "  She  blushed,  looked  distressed, 
and  said  with  a  confusion  prettily  girlish,  "I  am 
afraid  I  had  something  to  do  with  it." 

"You  had  everything  to  do  with  it,"  he  heartily 
assured  her.  "You  don't  feel  slighted  now,  do  you? 
I  thought  you  might  take  it  to  heart,  you  understand 
— being  sort  of  left  out.  Says  I  to  myself  last  night, 
there'll  be  no  invidious  distinctions  in  Miss  Hoi- 
lister's  neighborhood.  She  deserves  a  duel  of  her 
own,  and  I'll  hop  in  and  get  her  one  the  first  minute 
that  conceited  jackass  of  a  Colonel  Calvo  gives  me 
a  chance  to  pull  his  nose  for  him.  That  is  strictly 
accordin'  to  Hoyle,  ma'am.  Pullin'  the  other  fel 
low's  nose  is  the  most  refined  and  elegant  way  of 
starting  a  duel.  Kickin'  him  was  an  after-thought, 
to  make  sure  he  was  insulted  a  whole  lot." 

"I  appreciate  your  motive,"  murmured  Miss  Hoi- 
lister,  "but,  oh,  dear,  it  wasn't  at  all  necessary.  You 
and  I  are  too  good  friends  to  require  a  duel  as  a 
proof  of  esteem.  And  I  did  not  feel  in  the  least 
slighted." 

"Perhaps  not;  but  you  are  bound  to  feel  sort  of 
gratified,"  stubbornly  argued  the  portly  squire  of 
dames.  "It's  the  nature  of  women  to  like  to  have 
duels  fought  over  'em.  The  colonel  is  as  thin  as  a 
shad,  and  I  suppose  he'll  stand  edgewise,  but  maybe 
I  can  wing  him." 

"But  what  about  you?"  tremulously  besought  his 
lady  fair,  whose  emotions  were  chaotic  in  the  ex 
treme. 

"Me?   Pooh!   I've  had  too  many  narrow  escapes 


102       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

to  be  bagged  by  a  google-eyed  shrimp  like  this  Calvo 
person,"  easily  answered  the  knight-errant.  "Now 
you  just  sit  tight  and  don't  get  fretty,  ma'am.  You 
can  bank  on  me  every  time.  I'm  shy  of  culture,  but 
my  heart  is  as  big  as  a  basket.  And  when  I  see  my 
duty  plain,  I  go  to  it  hi  a  hurry." 

Miss  Hollister's  perturbed  glance  happened  to  fall 
on  the  half-obliterated  plan  of  Johnny  Kent's  farm, 
hi  the  midst  of  which  she  still  stood.  It  appealed 
to  her  with  an  indefinable  pathos.  She  could  not 
understand  why,  but  she  began  to  weep,  although  a 
moment  before  she  had  perceived  the  wild  absurdity 
of  Johnny's  Kent  arguments. 

"Why,  you  ain't  supposed  to  cry,"  he  exclaimed 
in  great  agitation;  "I'm  trying  to  please  you." 

"I — I — can  see  your  good  intentions,"  she  tear 
fully  faltered,  "but  I  shall  go  to  Captain  O'Shea  and 
beg  him  to  forbid  this  duel — to  prevent  bloodshed. 
I  shall  be  perfectly  happy  without  it." 

"Please  don't  interfere  in  men's  affairs,"  implored 
the  alarmed  hero.  "Women  are  too  delicate  to  go 
prancin'  in  among  us  professional  pirates.  You'll 
feel  better  after  it's  over.  I  guess  I  had  better 
leave  you." 

He  fled  from  the  sight  of  her  tears,  greatly  dis 
tressed,  wondering  whether  he  might  be  mistaken 
in  his  theories  concerning  the  operations  of  the 
feminine  mind.  She  had  behaved  as  if  she  did  not 
want  a  duel,  but  he  reflected: 

"They're  all  geared  contrariwise.  You  can  never 
tell  just  what  they  do  want.  And  it's  a  good  bet 


THE  CASTAWAYS  103 

that  she'd  feel  worse  if  I  disappointed  her  about  this 
duel." 

The  first  assistant  engineer  called  him  to  repair 
the  condenser,  which  had  been  set  up  on  the  beach, 
and  it  was  there  that  Captain  O'Shea  found  him 
some  time  later. 

"For  the  love  of  heaven,  Johnny,"  exclaimed  the 
skipper,  "what  infernal  nonsense  have  you  been 
up  to  now?  The  Cuban  colonel  came  surging  into 
me  tent,  foaming  and  sputterin'  like  a  leaky  boiler. 
He  got  all  choked  up  with  language,  but  I  made  out 
that  ye  have  handed  him  seventeen  kinds  of  deadly 
insults,  and  agreed  to  fight  him  with  revolvers. 
Are  ye  drunk?  The  Cuban  crowd  is  hard  enough 
to  handle  as  it  is,  and  you  have  been  me  right-hand 
man.  Is  it  one  of  your  bad  jokes?  " 

"Not  on  your  life,  Cap'n  Mike,"  earnestly  affirmed 
the  engineer.  "He  made  himself  unpleasant  to  a 
friend  of  mine — ladies'  names  are  barred.  We  fixed 
up  this  duel  in  perfectly  gentlemanly  style,  and  as 
a  favor  to  me  I  ask  you  to  keep  your  hands  off. 
It  won't  be  a  public  ruction." 

"You  butt-headed  old  fool,  he  may  shoot  you!" 

"Well,  Cap'n  Mike,  speakin'  seriously,"  and 
Johnny's  face  was  genuinely  sad,  "just  between  you 
and  me,  I  wouldn't  care  a  whole  lot.  I've  lost  my 
ship,  and  I'll  never  have  money  enough  to  buy  a 
farm.  And — well — she  wouldn't  look  at  me  twice 
if  we  were  in  civilization  among  her  own  kind  of 
folks.  I  didn't  mean  to  slop  over  this  way,  but  you 
are  a  good  friend  of  mine,  Cap'n  Mike." 


104       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

O'Shea  laid  a  hand  upon  his  comrade's  shoulder 
and  was  moved  to  sympathy. 

"You  are  making  heavy  weather  of  it,  Johnny. 
Suppose  I  forbid  this  high-tragedy  duel.  I  am  still 
in  command,  ye  understand.  It  would  give  me  no 
great  sorrow  to  see  Colonel  Calvo  wafted  to  a  better 
world,  but  I  will  be  hanged  if  I  want  to  lose  you." 

"I  ask  it  as  a  favor,  Cap'n  Mike.  I've  done  my 
best  for  you,  blow  high,  blow  low,"  doggedly  per 
sisted  the  other. 

"'Tis  not  fair  to  put  it  that  way,  Johnny.  Cool 
off  a  bit,  and  we  will  talk  about  it  to-night." 

"You're  the  boss,  Cap'n  Mike,  and  I'd  hate  to 
mutiny  on  you,  but  I've  passed  my  word  to  the 
finest  lady  in  the  world  that  this  duel  would  be 
fought.  And  a  man  that  will  break  his  word  to  a 
lady  ought  to  be  strung  to  the  yard-arm." 

O'Shea  walked  away  and  sat  down  hi  front  of  his 
tent.  The  Cuban  camp  was  buzzing  with  excite 
ment,  and  a  grumbling  uneasiness  was  manifest 
among  the  crew  of  the  Fearless.  The  two  factions 
cordially  disliked  each  other.  The  story  of  the  duel 
had  spread  like  a  fire.  If  anything  happened  to 
Johnny  Kent,  the  Fearless  men  were  resolved  to  an 
nihilate  the  Cuban  camp.  Such  intentions  being 
promptly  conveyed  to  the  patriots,  they  swarmed 
about  Colonel  Calvo  and  announced  their  readi 
ness  to  avenge  him  with  the  last  drop  of  their 
blood. 

O'Shea  summoned  Jack  Gorham  as  his  most  de 
pendable  aid  and  counsellor.  The  melancholy  sharp- 


THE  CASTAWAYS  105 

shooter  listened  respectfully.  O'Shea  waxed  torrid 
and  his  language  was  strong. 

"Johnny  Kent  is  a  great  engineer  and  I  swear  by 
him,"  he  declared,  "but  he  is  full  to  the  hatches 
with  sentiment,  and  it  makes  him  as  cranky  as  a 
wet  hen.  He  is  dead  set  on  this  comical  duel,  and 
I  dislike  to  disgrace  him  by  putting  him  under  ar 
rest.  He  would  never  sail  with  me  again." 

"Better  let  them  fight,"  said  Gorham. 

"  'Tis  your  trade,"  replied  O'Shea.  "You  are 
biassed.  I  want  ye  to  figure  a  way  to  make  this 
duel  harmless.  Let  them  shoot  all  they  like,  but 
don't  let  them  hit  each  other.  You  know  how  I  feel 
about  Johnny  Kent,  and  little  as  I  love  Colonel 
Calvo,  I  am  sort  of  bound  to  deliver  him  safe  some 
where." 

"When  is  this  pistol  party  scheduled  to  happen?" 
asked  Gorham. 

"Early  to-morrow  morning." 

"It  will  be  easy  enough  to  steal  their  revolvers 
while  they're  asleep,  sir,  and  work  the  bullets  out 
of  the  shells  and  spill  most  of  the  powder.  Or  I 
could  file  down  the  front  sights.  Why  not  make 
'em  postpone  it  for  another  twenty-four  hours? 
The  seconds  will  have  a  lot  of  pow-wowin'  to  do, 
and  perhaps  we  can  work  out  a  better  scheme." 

"I  agree  with  you,  Gorham.  A  duel  should  be 
conducted  with  a  great  deal  of  etiquette  and  delib 
eration.  'Tis  not  a  rough-and-tumble  scrap,  but 
more  like  a  declaration  of  war.  We  will  do  it  proper, 
even  if  we  are  ragged  and  shipwrecked." 


io6       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Shortly  thereafter  Captain  O'Shea  issued  his  ulti 
matum  to  the  combatants.  They  were  to  observe 
a  truce  until  the  morning  of  the  second  day.  Mean 
while  negotiations  would  be  conducted  in  a  digni 
fied  and  befitting  manner.  Violation  of  this  edict 
would  be  punished  by  confinement  under  guard. 
Johnny  Kent  grumbled  volubly  until  O'Shea  con 
vinced  him  that  the  etiquette  of  the  duelling  code 
forbade  unseemly  haste. 

"I  take  your  word  for  it,  Cap'n  Mike.  I  don't 
want  to  make  any  breaks.  This  affair  amis  to  be 
strictly  accordin'  to  Hoyle." 


SHORTLY  after  sunrise  next  morning  the  sentries, 
the  cook,  and  a  few  sailors  and  Cubans  who  were 
early  astir  discovered  a  faint  smudge  of  smoke  on 
the  horizon  to  the  northward.  They  shouted  the 
tidings,  and  Captain  O'Shea  tumbled  out  of  his  tent, 
rubbing  his  eyes.  A  long  scrutiny  convinced  him 
that  the  steamer  was  heading  to  pass  within  sight 
ing  distance  of  the  key.  She  was  coming  from  the 
direction  of  the  Cuban  coast.  Possibly  she  might 
belong  to  the  Spanish  navy.  On  the  other  hand, 
she  might  be  a  cargo  tramp  bound  to  the  south 
ward  and  seeking  a  South  American  port. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  becoming  accustomed  to 
the  unexpected.  Those  who  dwell  in  the  midst  of 
alarms  acquire  a  certain  philosophical  temper  which 
views  life  as  a  series  of  hazards.  On  this  lonely  key 


THE  CASTAWAYS  107 

in  the  Caribbean  the  daily  routine  of  things  had  run 
along  without  acute  symptoms  of  worry  and  dread, 
although  the  peril  of  discovery  by  a  Spanish  war- 
vessel  was  discussed  by  the  evening  camp-fires.  So 
long  as  Captain  O'Shea  appeared  unrufHed,  his  fol 
lowers  saw  no  reason  why  they  should  lose  sleep. 
To  him  it  was  like  the  toss  of  a  com.  They  were 
to  be  rescued  or  they  were  to  be  found  by  the  enemy. 

If  he  had  seemed  inactive,  it  was  because  this  was 
an  extraordinary  shipwreck.  To  send  the  life-raft 
hi  search  of  succor  was  a  forlorn  hope,  a  desperate 
expedient,  but  even  this  was  denied  him.  The  wind 
was  blowing  steadily  from  the  southward,  day  after 
day,  and  the  raft  would  drift  straight  toward  the 
coast  of  Cuba  where  no  mercy  was  to  be  looked  for. 
Because  of  the  destruction  of  the  Spanish  gun-boat, 
these  refugees  were  something  else  than  castaways. 
They  were  men  without  a  country,  and  death  awaited 
them  wherever  flew  the  red  and  yellow  flag  of  Spain. 

Captain  O'Shea  turned  from  gazing  at  the  distant 
smoke  and  awakened  Johnny  Kent. 

"Rouse  out,  ye  sleepy  old  duellist,"  he  called. 
"Take  a  look  at  this  vessel." 

The  engineer  emerged  from  the  tent  and  the  two 
men  stood  side  by  side,  their  emotions  weighted  with 
poignant  anxiety. 

"  We  won't  be  able  to  tell  what  she  is  for  some  time 
yet,"  said  Johnny  Kent.  "The  sea  is  hazy.  Yes, 
she's  sure  enough  comin'  this  way,  Cap'n  Mike." 

"'Tis  best  for  us  to  be  ready,  whatever  she  is," 
replied  O'Shea. 


io8       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"I  guess  we'll  postpone  the  arrangements  for  my 
duel.  What's  the  orders?" 

"All  hands  will  move  inside  the  earthworks  right 
after  breakfast,"  briskly  spoke  O'Shea.  "Take 
charge  of  the  men  hi  your  department,  Johnny. 
See  that  the  rifles  are  clean  and  serve  out  plenty 
of  ammunition.  And  store  all  the  fresh  water  ye 
can." 

"If  it's  a  Spanish  vessel,  can  we  stand  her  off  at 
all,  Cap'n  Mike?" 

"  She  will  have  a  hard  time  shellin'  us  out,  Johnny. 
That  four-sided  refuge  we  piled  up  with  our  shovels 
is  nothing  but  a  big  sand-bank.  Shells  will  bury  in 
it  without  explodin'.  'Tis  the  theory  of  modern 
fortifications.  We  can  do  our  best,  and  maybe  luck 
will  turn  our  way.  Anyhow,  'tis  more  sensible  than 
to  be  shot  by  drum-head  court-martial,  which  is  what 
will  happen  to  us  if  we  throw  up  our  hands  and 
surrender.  If  they  find  us  a  hard  nut  to  crack,  per 
haps  we  can  make  terms  of  some  kind." 

"What  about  the  ladies?  I  was  hopin'  they 
wouldn't  have  to  go  up  against  any  more  excite 
ment,"  wistfully  said  Johnny  Kent. 

"I  have  delivered  me  cargo.  It  stands  no  longer 
between  us  and  our  guests,  Johnny.  And  'tis  my 
opinion  that  you  and  I  will  not  let  them  suffer  for 
the  sake  of  saving  our  own  skins." 

"Right  you  are,  Cap'n  Mike.  I  don't  care  a  cuss 
what  becomes  of  me  if  you  can  get  Miss  Hollister — 
I  mean  both  of  'em,  of  course — on  board  a  respect 
able  vessel  of  some  kind." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  109 

Soon  the  camp  was  in  commotion.  The  methods 
of  the  leaders  were  brutal  and  direct.  This  was  no 
time  for  soft  words.  Jack  Gorham  moved  quietly, 
in  several  places  at  once,  and  when  a  man  would 
argue  or  expostulate  he  was  threatened  with  the  butt 
of  that  terrible  Springfield.  At  his  side,  like  a  huge, 
black  shadow,  stalked  Jiminez,  a  militant  assistant 
who  jumped  at  the  word  of  command. 

Johnny  Kent,  no  longer  a  sighing  sentimentalist, 
bellowed  at  his  engineers,  oilers,  and  stokers,  and 
the  discipline  of  shipboard  took  hold  of  them. 
There  was  the  loudest  uproar  in  the  Cuban  camp. 
Because  of  their  race,  the  patriots  had  to  be  melo 
dramatic,  to  defy  the  unknown  steamer  by  running 
to  the  beach  and  brandishing  their  rifles  and  ma 
chetes  at  the  ribbon  of  smoke  that  trailed  across  the 
opalescent  sea.  But  Colonel  Calvo,  very  much  more 
of  a  man  in  this  emergency  than  when  he  had  been 
afloat  on  the  bounding  billows,  drove  them  back  to 
camp  and  got  them  well  in  hand. 

The  canvas  shelters  were  hastily  ripped  down  and 
set  up  inside  the  earthworks  as  a  protection  against 
the  sun  which  blazed  into  this  windless  enclosure 
with  fierce  intensity.  Johnny  Kent  paused  to  say 
to  O'Shea: 

"It's  goin'  to  be  hades  in  there  for  the  women. 
They  can't  stand  it  long." 

"They  won't  have  to,  Johnny.  This  will  be  a 
short  performance.  Ye  can  expect  a  show-down  be 
tween  now  and  sunset." 

The  haze  had  vanished.    The  steamer  was  visible 


no       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

beneath  a  far-flung  banner  of  smoke.  A  tiny  fore 
mast,  a  ring  around  it,  and  O'Shea  exclaimed: 

"A  righting- top !  It  looks  to  me  like  the  cruiser 
that  chased  us  down  the  coast." 

"That's  her,  dollars  to  doughnuts,  Cap'n  Mike. 
She  ain't  in  such  a  hurry  to-day." 

"No  need  of  it.    We  can't  get  away." 

"Do  you  think  she's  really  lookin'  for  us?" 

"  'Tis  not  a  bad  guess,  Johnny.  As  soon  as  word 
was  telegraphed  to  Havana  that  the  gun-boat  was 
destroyed,  the  whole  blockadin'  fleet  must  have  been 
ordered  to  watch  for  us  at  both  ends  of  Cuba.  They 
knew  we  had  to  round  Cape  Maysi  or  San  Antonio 
to  get  home.  And  when  we  were  not  seen  or  re 
ported  anywhere  they  may  have  begun  to  look  for 
us  down  here  to  the  south'ard." 

"She  can't  help  sightin'  the  wreck  of  the  Fearless" 
said  the  engineer. 

"And  then  she  will  know  who  we  are.  'Tis  time 
for  all  hands  to  take  to  cover." 

The  Spanish  man-of-war,  gray,  and  slim,  and 
venomous,  slowly  lifted  her  hull  above  the  sea-line, 
and  was  heading  to  pass  to  the  eastward  of  the  sandy 
islet.  It  was  a  fair  conjecture  that  her  captain  was 
roving  away  from  his  station  on  the  coast  hi  the 
hope  of  finding  the  Fearless  disabled  or  short  of  coal. 
Some  of  the  refugees  surmised  that  she  might  pass 
them  unobserved,  but  at  a  distance  of  two  or  three 
miles  she  turned  and  laid  a  course  to  pick  up  the 
key  at  closer  range. 

Captain  O'Shea  climbed  the  rampart  and  lashed 


THE  CASTAWAYS  in 

an  American  ensign  to  a  spar  thrust  into  the  sand. 
The  bright  flag  was  neither  half-masted  nor  reversed 
as  a  signal  of  distress.  The  breeze  flaunted  it  as  a 
defiance,  a  message  from  men  who  had  forfeited  its 
protection,  who  cheered  the  sight  of  it  for  sentimental 
reasons  which  they  could  not  have  clearly  explained. 
The  governments  of  the  United  States  and  Spain 
were  at  peace.  This  was  not  an  affair  between  the 
two  Powers.  It  was  a  little  private  war,  a  singular 
incident.  And  yet  it  was  somehow  fitting,  after  all, 
that  these  outlaws  should  prefer  to  see  the  stars  and 
stripes  waving  over  their  heads. 

Presently  Colonel  Calvo  planted  beside  this  ensign 
the  tricolor  of  the  Cuban  revolutionaries,  with  the 
lone  star.  It  was  done  with  a  certain  amount  of 
ceremony  which  commanded  respect  and  admira 
tion.  It  signified  that  he,  too,  speaking  for  his  men, 
was  ready  to  make  the  last  stand,  to  accept  the  de 
cree  of  fortune.  Johnny  Kent  grasped  his  hand  and 
apologized. 

The  cruiser  moved  cautiously  nearer  the  key,  tak 
ing  frequent  soundings.  The  wreck  of  the  Fearless 
had  been  discovered  and  must  have  been  identified, 
for  the  cruiser  cleared  for  action,  and  the  bugles 
trilled  on  her  decks.  The  huge,  four-sided  mound  of 
sand  heaped  upon  the  back  of  the  key  evidently 
puzzled  the  officers.  After  a  long  delay,  the  vessel 
let  go  an  anchor  a  thousand  yards  from  the  beach 
and  spitefully  hurled  several  shells  into  the  shattered 
hulk  of  the  Fearless. 

Then  a  pair  of  eight-inch  turret-guns  were  trained 


112       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

at  Captain  O'Shea's  thick  walls  of  sand.  A  string 
of  small  flags  fluttered  from  the  cruiser's  signal-yard. 
O'Shea  comprehended  the  message  without  consult 
ing  the  international  code-book. 

"She  invites  us  to  surrender,"  he  explained, 
"which  I  decline  to  do  at  present.  Let  her  shoot 
away.  Maybe  she  will  tire  of  it  and  leave  us." 

No  white  flag  was  displayed  on  the  rampart,  and 
the  cruiser  lost  her  temper.  A  projectile  passed  over 
the  key  with  a  noise  like  a  derailed  freight-train. 
Others  followed  until  the  sand  was  spurting  in  yel 
low  geysers.  Such  shells  as  struck  the  earthwork 
burrowed  deep  holes  without  causing  appreciable 
damage.  The  Spanish  commander  soon  perceived 
that  this  impromptu  fortification  was  costly  to  bom 
bard.  His  gunners  were  merely  burying  shells  in  a 
large  heap  of  sand,  and  his  government  had  not  been 
lavish  in  filling  his  magazines.  A  mortar  battery  was 
needed  to  discommode  this  insane  crew  of  pirates. 
And  undoubtedly,  if  a  landing-party  should  be  disem 
barked  on  the  open  beach,  these  rascals  of  Captain 
O'Shea  would  fight  like  devils.  The  cruiser  had  been 
ordered  to  fetch  them  back  to  Havana  alive  and 
they  would  be  formally  executed  in  the  Cabanas 
fortress  as  a  warning  to  other  hardy  seafarers  in  the 
filibustering  trade.  These  men  had  not  only  fired 
on  the  Spanish  flag,  but  they  had  also  blown  it  out 
of  water. 

But  how  were  they  to  be  extracted  from  their 
refuge  without  sacrificing  the  lives  of  Spanish  sailors 
and  marines?  Carramba,  here  was  a  tough  problem ! 


THE  CASTAWAYS  113 

It  might  be  feasible  to  starve  them  out  by  means 
of  a  siege,  but  the  cruiser  had  no  abundance  of  coal 
and  stores.  A  storm  would  compel  her  to  steam  out 
to  sea,  or  run  for  the  coast.  And  if  the  key  were 
left  unguarded  a  merchant- vessel  might  happen  along 
and  rescue  O'Shea  and  his  men.  And  for  all  the 
commander  knew,  they  had  already  sent  a  boat  to 
summon  help. 

The  cruiser  ceased  firing.  Thereupon  Captain 
O'Shea  convened  a  council  of  war  within  his  de 
fences.  The  enclosure  had  been  deluged  with  flying 
sand,  but  there  were  no  casualties. 

"There  will  be  no  more  bombardment,"  he  told 
his  people.  "The  cruiser  will  do  one  of  two  things. 
She  will  lay  off  the  key  and  wait  for  us  to  give  in, 
or  she  will  send  her  boats  ashore  to-night  and  try 
to  rush  us  in  the  dark." 

"We'll  make  it  unhealthy  for  'em,"  stoutly  de 
clared  Johnny  Kent. 

"Me  and  my  men  will  die  for  Cuba  Libre"  said 
Colonel  Calvo,  his  theatrical  manner  fled,  his  words 
spoken  with  a  fine  simplicity. 

"There  don't  seem  to  be  any  way  out,"  observed 
Jack  Gorham. 

O'Shea  gazed  at  them  in  silence.  There  was  no 
reproach  in  their  speech  or  manner,  no  thought  of 
blaming  him  for  this  tragic  predicament.  And  yet 
it  was  his  responsibility  and  his  alone.  He  might 
have  abandoned  the  Fearless  in  the  bay  and  taken 
these  people  ashore  where  they  could  find  refuge 
with  the  Cuban  army  of  Gomez.  If  he  had  been 


114       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

guilty  of  an  error  of  judgment,  then  he  should  pay 
the  price.  There  dawned  upon  him  a  clear  concep 
tion  of  his  own  private  duty. 

"We  will  stick  it  out  as  we  are  till  sunset,"  he  said 
abruptly.  "Nothing  more  can  happen  before  then. 
How  are  the  ladies,  Johnny?" 

"I'm  afraid  they'll  go  under  if  we  have  many 
days  like  this,  Cap'n  Mike.  This  is  an  infernal  place 
to  be  cooped  up  in." 

"I  am  ashamed  to  face  them,  Johnny.  'Tis  all 
my  fault  that  they  are  in  this  mess  with  us.  I  should 
have  put  them  ashore  when  I  had  the  chance.  But 
a  sailor  will  think  of  his  ship  when  he  can  save  her, 
and  'tis  his  chronic  notion  that  he  is  safer  at  sea  than 
anywhere  else." 

Through  the  long,  long  day  the  sun  poured  wick 
edly  into  the  fortification.  The  cruiser  rolled  lazily 
at  her  anchorage  and  made  no  sign  of  renewing  the 
attack.  O'Shea  lay  flat  behind  a  small  embrasure 
and  vainly  searched  the  sea  for  the  sight  of  a  mer 
chant-steamer  which  might  intervene  in  behalf  of 
the  castaways.  This  was  his  last  hope. 

With  a  weary  sigh  he  watched  the  red  sun  slant 
lower  and  lower.  His  lucky  star  had  failed  him. 
He  made  his  decision.  Presently  he  beckoned  Ger 
ald  Van  Steen  and  asked  him  to  go  outside  the  forti 
fication,  where  they  could  have  speech  in  private. 
The  young  man  was  sullen,  but  O'Shea  smiled  with 
engaging  friendliness  and  said: 

"'Tis  no  time  to  nurse  grudges,  me  lad.  Let  us 
shake  hands  and  forget  it." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  115 

"Oh,  I'm  not  thinking  of  that  row  of  ours,"  wear- 
ily  muttered  Van  Steen.  "It's  of  no  consequence 
now.  I'm  not  such  a  howling  cad  as  to  consider 
myself  in  any  way.  What  do  you  propose  to  do 
with  Miss  Forbes  and  Miss  Hollister?  I  have  kept 
my  mouth  shut  all  day,  waiting  for  the  great  .Cap 
tain  Mike  O'Shea  to  do  what  would  have  occurred  to 
any  man  with  his  wits  about  him." 

"May  I  ask  what  it  is  that  ye  would  call  so  plain 
to  see?"  patiently  queried  the  shipmaster. 

"Signal  to  the  cruiser  that  you  have  in  your  com 
pany  three  persons  who  were  picked  up  from  their 
yacht.  Or  you  could  have  sent  us  off  on  the  life- 
raft,  and  given  me  a  chance  to  explain  matters  to 
the  commander  and  show  him  my  credentials.  I 
don't  want  to  be  a  quitter,  you  know,  but  really  this 
is  none  of  my  affair,  and  my  first  duty  is  to  get  these 
ladies  home  in  safety." 

"I  grant  ye  that,"  slowly  replied  O'Shea.  "And 
I  think  no  less  of  you  for  wishing  to  leave  us  to 
stew  in  our  own  juice.  You  have  behaved  very 
well,  barring  the  one  flare-up  with  me.  Now  I  will 
explain  why  what  ye  suggest  is  not  so  easy.  The 
cruiser  would  pay  no  heed  to  signals  about  you. 
'Twould  be  looked  at  as  some  kind  of  a  trick.  Can 
ye  not  realize  that  the  master  of  the  navy  vessel 
yonder  is  wild  with  rage  to  exterminate  me  and  the 
rest  of  the  Fearless  company?  He  sees  red,  man. 
As  for  sending  ye  on  the  life-raft,  it  means  that  sev 
eral  of  me  own  men  must  go  with  you  to  handle 
the  lubberly  thing.  And  they  would  be  dragged 


n6       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

,  aboard  the  cruiser  and  held  there.  I  was  willing  to 
go  meself ,  but  I  could  not  navigate  the  raft  so  short- 
handed.  And  I  hoped  the  luck  might  turn  before 
night." 

Van  Steen  had  lost  his  hostile  expression.  He 
regretted  his  hasty  words  of  condemnation.  The 
intonations  of  O'Shea's  voice  strangely  moved  him. 
And  the  sailor's  face,  no  longer  bold  and  reckless, 
held  a  certain  quality  of  gentleness,  one  might  al 
most  call  it  sweetness. 

"Oh,  confound  it!"  cried  Van  Steen.  "You put 
me  in  the  wrong,  as  usual.  And  I'm  damned  if  I 
can  feel  square  in  trying  to  quit  you  and  leaving 
you  to  take  your  medicine.  I  am  one  of  the  crowd, 
don't  you  see,  and  proud  of  it.  They  are  a  bully 
sort." 

"I  have  never  been  crowded  into  such  a  tight 
corner,"  said  O'Shea  with  a  smile,  "but  'tis  the  way 
of  life  that  when  a  man  is  young  and  strong,  and 
used  to  long  chances,  he  thinks  he  will  not  be  tripped. 
This  is  my  affair,  not  yours,  so  trouble  yourself  no 
more." 

"What  do  you  propose  to  do,  Captain  O'Shea? 
You  have  made  up  your  mind,  I  can  see  that." 

"The  cruiser  will  be  in  a  mood  to  hold  communi 
cation  with  us  now.  'Twould  have  been  useless  to 
try  it  this  morning.  But  they  have  discovered  that 
'tis  not  easy  to  smoke  us  out  of  our  hole." 

Presently  he  unrolled  a  bundle  of  signal-flags  saved 
from  the  Fearless,  and  selected  those  he  wished 
to  use.  Knotting  them  together,  he  hoisted  the 


THE  CASTAWAYS  117 

string  on  the  spar  beneath  the  American  ensign.  < 
The  commander  of  the  cruiser  read  the  message  re 
questing  that  a  boat  be  sent  ashore  in  order  to  dis 
cuss  terms  of  surrender.  He  was  in  no  mood  to  dis 
cuss  terms  of  any  kind,  but  it  appeared  necessary 
to  parley  with  these  unspeakable  scoundrels  on  the 
key.  Perhaps  they  realized  the  hopelessness  of  their 
obstinacy  and  their  spirit  was  broken. 

A  cutter  was  manned,  and  as  it  skimmed  over  the 
calm  sea  and  drew  near  the  breakers  Captain  O'Shea 
walked  to  the  beach,  Colonel  Calvo  accompanying 
him  as  interpreter.  Van  Steen  followed  as  a  right 
ful  participant  in  the  conference.  The  ladies  were 
requested  to  remain  within  the  fortification.  It  was 
not  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  cruiser  would 
respect  a  truce.  The  seamen  and  the  Cubans  be 
hind  the  banks  of  sand  were  savage  and  desperate, 
as  was  to  be  expected  of  men  for  whom  surrender 
meant  the  firing-squad. 

The  crew  of  the  cutter  held  her  off  the  beach  as 
the  part  of  caution.  They  were  ready  to  pull  out 
to  sea  at  a  moment's  notice.  O'Shea  and  Colonel 
Calvo  splashed  into  the  water  and  stood  beside  the 
boat.  The  commander  himself  was  in  the  stern- 
sheets,  a  corpulent,  black-bearded  man  of  an  ex 
plosive  temper.  He  waited,  glowering,  for  O'Shea 
to  speak.  He  would  waste  no  courtesy  on  pirates. 

"You  will  play  fair  with  me,"  said  the  shipmaster, 
and  Colonel  Calvo  translated  as  well  as  he  was  able. 
"I  have  ye  covered  with  fifty  rifles.  I  am  Captain 
Michael  O'Shea.  Ye  may  have  heard  tell  of  me." 


n8       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

•  The  commander  nodded  and  profanely  replied 
that  he  knew  nothing  good  of  Captain  O'Shea  or 
the  Fearless.  It  was  an  act  of  God  that  they  would 
make  no  more  voyages. 

"Much  obliged  for  your  kind  wishes,"  resumed 
O'Shea.  "I  am  sorry  to  have  put  you  to  so  much 
trouble.  I  will  waste  no  more  words.  I  have  in  me 
party  the  young  man  standing  yonder  on  the  beach 
and  two  ladies  that  I  picked  up  adrift  from  a  stranded 
American  yacht.  'Tis  not  right  for  them  to  suffer 
any  longer.  I  want  ye  to  carry  them  to  port." 

The  commander  had  heard  of  no  wrecked  yacht 
in  these  waters.  As  for  the  women,  it  was  most 
unfortunate  for  them.  Captain  O'Shea  had  only  to 
surrender  his  force  and  the  women  would  be  taken 
on  board  the  cruiser  and  properly  provided  for. 
Then  the  story  could  be  investigated. 

O'Shea  broke  in  angrily  to  say  to  Colonel  Calvo: 

"He  is  like  a  mad  bull.  There  is  no  reason  in 
him  at  all.  He  will  make  us  surrender  sooner,  he 
thinks,  to  save  the  ladies.  He  will  use  any  weapon 
that  comes  to  hand." 

The  Spanish  commander  raised  an  arm  in  an  im 
passioned  gesture.  As  if  unable  longer  to  restrain 
himself,  he  shouted: 

"My  brother  was  the  captain  of  the  gun-boat 
that  perished  in  Santa  Marta  Bay,  and  he  died  with 
his  vessel.  By  the  blood  of  God,  shall  I  parley  with 
you?" 

Gerald  Van  Steen  waded  out  to  the  boat.  He 
would  speak  for  himself.  That  there  should  be  any 


THE  CASTAWAYS  119 

question  of  rescuing  Nora  Forbes  and  Miss  Hollister 
fairly  stunned  him.  His  bearing  was  intrepid,  but 
his  lip  quivered  as  he  imploringly  exclaimed  to 
Colonel  Calvo: 

"Tell  him  that  I  don't  care  a  hang  about  what 
happens  to  me  if  he  will  take  the  women  off.  And 
if  money  will  tempt  him,  I'll  pay  down  my  last 
dollar  to  save  the  lives  of  the  whole  party.  He  will 
be  a  rich  man." 

The  Spanish  officer  laughed  with  a  contemptuous 
shrug.  His  heavy  visage  was  inflamed.  He  was  of 
that  type  of  his  race  which  regarded  Americans  as 
"Yankee  pigs."  Personal  hatred  and  the  desire  of 
private  vengeance  made  him  proof  against  bribery. 
Moreover,  he  had  no  faith  in  the  protestations  of 
Van  Steen.  As  O'Shea  had  put  it,  he  was  a  man 
who  saw  red.  The  futility  of  appealing  to  him  was 
so  obvious  that  O'Shea  interfered  to  play  his  trump 
card. 

"If  you  land  your  sailors  to-night  and  try  to  take 
us,"  said  he,  and  his  voice  was  hard  and  deliberate, 
"  'twill  be  the  toughest  job  ye  ever  tackled.  We  have 
nothing  to  lose,  and  we  will  be  behind  the  earthworks 
yonder.  You  can  gamble  that  there  will  be  two 
dead  Spaniards  for  every  one  of  us  ye  wipe  out. 
As  for  starving  us,  I  have  thought  it  over,  and  ye 
will  not  try  it.  You  would  be  laughed  at  from 
Havana  to  Madrid  for  not  daring  to  attack  a  hand 
ful  of  shipwrecked  men.  Ye  have  a  dilemma  by 
the  horns.  And  your  rage  has  made  ye  blind  as  a 
bat.  You  are  all  for  giving  us  a  short  shrift,  and  no 


120      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

doubt  your  hot-headed  officials  in  Havana  have 
egged  ye  on  to  it.  But  it  will  make  a  big  diplomatic 
row,  and  when  the  smoke  clears  ye  will  be  sorry. 
It  will  sound  very  rotten  that  ye  had  no  mercy  on 
a  crew  of  castaways.  And  I  will  say,  for  your  own 
information,  that  Uncle  Sam  has  been  very  touchy 
about  these  quick-action  executions  ever  since  the 
Virginius  affair." 

The  commander  had  ceased  to  fume.  He  was 
doing  O'Shea  the  favor  of  listening  to  him.  The 
stronger  personality  had  made  an  impression. 
O'Shea  perceived  this  and  he  went  on  to  say: 

"What  I  am  leading  up  to  is  this: — I  am  ready 
to  surrender  meself  and  face  the  consequences  if  you 
will  take  my  guests  aboard  and  leave  my  men  and 
the  Cubans  on  the  key.  They  will  take  chances  of 
being  found  by  a  friendly  vessel.  You  will  lose  no 
lives.  I  am  the  man  your  government  wants.  You 
will  win  the  big  reward  offered  for  the  capture  of 
Captain  Michael  O'Shea.  And  there  will  be  no  com 
plications  between  your  government  and  mine.  'Tis 
me  own  fault  that  the  party  is  stranded  here.  I  will 
pay  the  price.  'Twill  be  easy  enough  for  ye  to  ex 
plain  it.  You  can  keep  your  crew  quiet,  and  the 
story  will  go  out  that  ye  took  me  off  the  wreck  of 
my  steamer  and  the  others  got  away." 

This  was  a  proposal  which  took  the  commander 
all  aback.  He  considered  it  in  silence  and  his  gaze 
was  less  unfriendly.  O'Shea  concluded  with  dogged 
vehemence : 

"You  can  take  it  or  leave  it.    If  you  refuse,  you 


THE  CASTAWAYS  121 

must  come  and  take  us,  and,  so  help  me,  as  I  tell 
ye,  it  will  cost  you  a  slather  of  men  before  ye  wipe 
out  my  outfit." 

Here  was  a  lawless  castaway,  a  man  beyond  the 
pale,  who  insolently  defied  the  arms  and  majesty  of 
Spain.  But  there  was  a  certain  plausible  method  in 
his  madness  which  caused  the  commander  to  waver. 
His  implacable  hostility  had  sensibly  diminished.  It 
would,  without  doubt,  win  him  great  distinction  to 
return  to  Havana  with  the  redoubtable  Captain 
Michael  O'Shea  a  prisoner.  As  for  the  men  of  the 
outlawed  party,  most  of  them  had  been  invisible 
from  the  cruiser,  and  their  number  was  a  mere  mat 
ter  of  conjecture.  It  was  therefore  possible  for  the 
commander  to  inform  his  officers  that  in  accepting 
the  surrender  of  Captain  O'Shea  he  had  captured 
all  of  the  expedition  that  was  worth  while  seizing. 
He  had  served  thirty  years  in  the  Spanish  navy 
without  seeing  a  man  slain  by  bullet  or  shell.  The 
prospect  of  a  fierce  and  bloody  engagement  with  men 
who  would  fight  like  wolves  failed  to  arouse  his  en 
thusiasm. 

"I  will  signal  my  answer  in  one  hour,"  said  he. 
"What  you  propose  has  surprised  me.  It  is  most 
unusual.  It  was  not  expected." 

O'Shea  waded  ashore  and  Colonel  Calvo  offered 
his  hand  as  they  stood  on  the  beach  and  watched 
the  cutter  dip  its  flashing  oars  in  the  ground- 
swell. 

"I  have  dislike'  you  sometimes,"  said  the  colonel. 
"But  now  I  tell  you  I  have  been  much  wrong.  I 


122       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

will  be  ver'  proud  to  go  with  you  to  Havana  if  it 
will  save  the  lives  of  my  braves'  of  soldiers." 

"You  are  a  good  man  yourself  when  ye  have 
terra  firma  under  you,"  was  the  hearty  response. 

Johnny  Kent  came  trotting  to  meet  them,  ex 
claiming  beseechingly: 

"What  was  it  all  about,  Cap'n  Mike?  Why 
couldn't  you  put  me  next  before  you  flew  the  sig 
nals?" 

O'Shea  painstakingly  retold  the  argument  which 
he  had  unfolded  to  the  Spanish  commander,  and  the 
chief  engineer  listened  with  his  chin  propped  in  his 
hand.  He  breathed  heavily  and  grunted  disap 
proval. 

"But  what  else  was  I  to  do?"  impatiently  de 
manded  O'Shea.  "I  got  you  all  into  this,  and  I 
must  get  you  out.  And  maybe  I  have  found  a 
way." 

"That  ain't  what  I'm  growlin'  about,"  strenu 
ously  protested  Johnny  Kent.  "Why  didn't  you 
let  me  in  on  this  deal?  Why  not  let  me  surrender 
with  you?  Doggone  it,  I'm  no  slouch  of  a  pirate 
myself,  with  considerable  of  a  reputation.  Perhaps 
the  Spaniards  might  think  I  was  worth  bargainin' 
for,  too." 

"I  want  to  go  it  alone,  Johnny.  'Tis  the  only 
square  thing  to  do." 

"But  you  and  me  have  been  playin'  the  game 
together,  Cap'n  Mike.  And  you  don't  ketch  me 
layin'  down  on  you  just  because  you've  come  to 
the  end  of  your  rope." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  123 

"Not  this  time,  Johnny.  'Tis  only  making  us 
feel  bad  to  wrangle  about  it." 

The  castaways  had  ceased  to  gaze  at  the  encir 
cling  horizon  for  sight  of  smoke  or  sail.  It  came, 
therefore,  as  an  incredible  thing  when  a  sentry  at  an 
embrasure  yelled  and  capered  like  a  lunatic.  Every 
one  rushed  out  and  beheld  the  black  hull  and  tower 
ing  upper-works  of  a  huge  passenger  steamer.  She 
was  coming  up  from  the  westward  and  had  altered 
her  track  as  though  curious  to  discover  why  the 
Spanish  cruiser  should  be  at  anchor  near  the  key. 
Would  she  halt  or  pass  on  her  way?  Captain  O'Shea, 
unable  to  credit  his  vision,  told  his  men  to  fire  volleys, 
and  ran  up  the  signal-flags  to  read: 

"Stand  by.     We  need  assistance" 

It  was  more  than  he  dared  hope  that  the  steamer 
would  read  his  call  for  help,  but  she  drew  nearer 
and  nearer  the  key,  slowed  speed,  and  rounded  to 
within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  Spanish  cruiser. 

"It's  a  British  vessel,  a  White  Star  liner,"  bawled 
Johnny  Kent.  "What  is  she  doin'  in  these  waters?" 

"One  of  those  winter-excursion  cruisers  out  of 
New  York,  I  take  it,"  replied  O'Shea.  "She  is 
making  a  short  cut  across  from  the  Leeward  Isl 
ands  or  somewhere  below  us,  running  from  port  to 
port.  I  hope  she  will  realize  that  this  is  no  holiday 
excursion  for  us." 

The  refugees  made  little  noise.  They  were  no 
longer  actors  but  spectators.  They  saw  the  liner 
exchange  signals  with  the  cruiser.  Apparently  this 
method  of  communication  was  unsatisfactory,  for 


124       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

soon  a  boat  passed  between  the  two  vessels.  There 
followed  a  heart-breaking  delay.  Dusk  was  obscur 
ing  the  sea  when  a  yawl  pulled  by  a  dozen  British 
seamen  moved  from  the  liner's  side  and  danced 
toward  the  key.  The  ramparts  of  sand  were  in 
stantly  deserted.  O' Shea's  men  and  the  Cubans 
ran  wildly  to  the  beach,  no  longer  afraid,  confident 
that  salvation  had  come  to  them.  They  rushed 
into  the  water  and  dragged  the  stout  yawl  high  and 
dry. 

There  stepped  ashore  a  stalwart,  energetic  man  in 
the  smart  uniform  of  a  captain  in  the  White  Star 
service.  The  crowd  fell  back  as  he  brusquely  de 
manded  : 

"What  kind  of  a  queer  business  is  this?  Where 
is  the  chief  pirate?" 

"O'Shea  is  me  name,"  acknowledged  the  leader. 
°Tis  quite  a  yarn,  if  ye  have  time  and  patience  to 
hear  it." 

"So  you  are  O'Shea,"  and  the  skipper  of  the 
Caronic  chuckled.  "Take  me  inside  that  extraor 
dinary  sand-heap  of  yours,  if  you  please,  and  talk 
as  long  as  you  like." 

He  grasped  O'Shea's  arm  and  they  vanished  within 
the  empty  defences. 

"I  have  come  ashore  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  this 
fantastical  situation,"  said  Captain  Henderson  of  the 
Caronic,  whose  smile  was  both  friendly  and  humor 
ous.  "The  commander  of  the  Spanish  cruiser  told 
me  to  keep  my  hands  off  and  to  go  about  my  busi 
ness.  Cheeky,  wasn't  it?  He  swore  he  had  a  nest 


THE  CASTAWAYS  125 

of  bloody  pirates  cornered  on  this  key,  and  he  ex 
pected  to  capture  them  to-night." 

"So  he  decided  to  turn  down  my  proposition," 
muttered  O'Shea. 

"He  referred  to  it.  But  his  officers  were  keen  to 
win  a  bit  of  glory  for  themselves,  and  they  argued 
him  the  other  way  round,  as  I  figured  it  from  his 
heated  remarks.  He  didn't  relish  the  job  of  sailing 
into  you  chaps.  In  fact,  the  black-whiskered  don 
was  in  a  state  of  mind.  Are  you,  by  any  chance, 
a  British  subject?" 

"No,  Captain  Henderson,  but  I  might  find  ye  a 
Britisher  or  two  among  me  crew.  I  have  an  as 
sorted  company  of  gentlemen  of  fortune." 

O'Shea  explained  matters  at  some  length,  and 
Captain  Henderson  vehemently  interrupted  to  say: 

"I  don't  know  that  it  makes  a  lot  of  difference 
whether  you  are  British  subjects  or  not.  Blood  is 
thicker  than  water.  Shall  I  steam  away  and  leave 
you  to  be  shot  on  the  say-so  of  a  raving  Spanish 
skipper?" 

"I  should  be  disappointed  in  you  if  ye  did," 
gravely  answered  O'Shea.  "  'Tis  not  what  I  would  do 
for  you." 

The  master  of  the  Caronic  permitted  O'Shea  to 
finish  his  narrative. 

"So  you  picked  up  the  Van  Steen  party?"  he 
rapped  out.  "We  heard  of  the  loss  of  the  Morning 
Star.  The  Spanish  skipper  out  yonder  said  I  might 
take  them  off  in  my  ship  before  he  attacked  you." 

"And  what  do  ye  propose  to  do  about  us?"  wist- 


126       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

fully  asked  O'Shea.  "Of  course  this  is  none  of  your 
row,  and  your  ship  is  not  a  British  navy  vessel " 

"But  I  am  a  British  seaman,"  snapped  Captain 
Henderson.  "And  you  are  shipwrecked  people  who 
have  asked  me  for  assistance.  That  is  all  I  have  to 
know.  And,  by  George,  it's  all  I  want  to  know." 

"And  ye  will  take  us  off?" 

"At  once.  And  I  imagine  I  had  better  land  you 
in  a  British  port.  What  about  Jamaica?" 

"Jamaica  will  suit  us,  Captain  Henderson.  The 
United  States  will  not  be  salubrious  for  us  until  this 
piracy  charge  blows  over.  And  the  Cubans  can 
dodge  across  to  their  native  land.  But  what  will 
ye  do  if  the  Spanish  cruiser  objects?" 

"She  will  not  fire  on  my  flag,"  thundered  the 
master  of  the  Caronic,  "nor  will  she  dare  to  take 
shipwrecked  men  from  my  decks.  Tell  your  people 
to  be  ready  to  go  aboard.  I  will  signal  my  chief 
officer  to  send  more  boats." 

Cheering  and  weeping,  the  company  of  the  Fearless 
abandoned  their  stronghold.  It  was  an  evacuation 
with  the  honors  of  war,  and  the  American  ensign 
was  left  flying  above  the  huge  heap  of  sand. 

Disinclined  to  join  the  jubilation,  Captain  Mi 
chael  O'Shea  wandered  away  from  his  seamen  and 
.stood  gazing  at  the  liner  whose  lights  were  blazing 
like  a  great  hotel.  Nora  Forbes  walked  along  the 
beach  until  she  came  to  him.  He  waited  for  her 
to  speak. 

"I  saw  you  leave  the  crowd,"  said  she,  "and  I 
followed  you.  I  wanted  to  talk  to  you  this  after- 


THE  CASTAWAYS  127 

noon — to  tell  you — to  try  to  tell  you — what  I  thought 
of  the  sacrifice  you  were  prepared  to  make.  Were 
you  going  away,  to  your  death,  without  saying 
good-by  to  me?" 

He  took  her  hand  in  his  as  he  answered: 

"It  was  hard  enough  to  face  my  finish  without 
bidding  farewell  to  you,  Nora  Forbes.  But  this  is 
our  good-by,  here  on  the  beach  to-night." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  she  exclaimed  unsteadily. 
"Must  I  say  it  all — must  I  tell  you  in  so  many 
words — are  you  afraid  to — oh,  can't  you  understand 
what  I  want  you  to  know?" 

"Yes,  I  think  I  understand,"  and  his  voice  was 
very  gentle.  "Look  at  the  liner  yonder."  He  raised 
his  arm  in  an  eloquent  gesture.  "You  will  be 
aboard  soon,  and  ye  will  be  among  hundreds  of 
people  that  belong  to  your  own  world.  And  ye 
will  sit  at  dinner  with  them  in  the  grand  saloon, 
and  they  will  talk  to  you  about  the  things  you  have 
known  and  lived  with  all  your  life.  And  ye  will 
find  out  that  you  belong  with  them. 

"As  the  days  go  by,  Nora  Forbes,  you  will  won 
der  more  and  more  if  this  voyage  of  ours  ever  really 
happened.  'Twill  be  like  a  dream  of  romance  and 
adventure,  and  moonshine,  that  could  not  have  been 
at  all." 

"But  this  is  real  and  all  the  rest  of  my  life  has 
been  just  make-believe,"  she  mournfully  whispered. 

"'Tis  the  magic  of  the  sea  and  the  strong  winds, 
and  the  free  life,  but  it  will  pass  and  you  will  be 
grateful  to  me  that  I  could  see  clearly." 


128       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Why  are  you  so  sure?  Why  do  you  speak  for 
me?" 

"Because  I  would  have  ye  happy,  Nora  Forbes. 
"Pis  what  God  made  you  for.  Look  at  me,  a  rover 
and  a  rough  one,  and  never  will  I  be  anything  else. 
I  am  not  fit  to  be  in  your  company  at  all.  You 
have  talked  very  plain  to  me,  for  a  girl  like  yourself. 
You  thought  to  yourself  that  I  was  afraid  of  your 
social  station  and  your  money  and  your  friends,  and 
so  you  would  be  telling  me  that  I  had  a  chance  with 
you  because  I  would  not  say  it  for  meself.  "Pis 
wonderful  to  have  you  step  down  from  your  throne 
and  be  kind  to  the  likes  of  me.  And  it  will  make 
your  memory  sweet  and  fair  to  me  as  long  as  the 
breath  is  in  me.  But  you  are  dreaming  dreams,  and 
you  will  awake  when  the  liner  has  carried  ye  back 
to  your  own  people." 

"But  I  can  never  again  be  happy  there,"  she 
faltered. 

"Ah,  yes,  you  can,  and  you  will.  And  you  will 
thank  me." 

She  stayed  to  hear  no  more,  but  turned  and  hast 
ened  back  to  her  friends,  angry,  humiliated,  un 
reconciled.  The  master  of  the  Fearless  pulled  his 
straw  hat  over  his  eyes  and  turned  in  the  direction 
of  his  hilarious  sailors.  He  hated  himself,  but  he 
had  no  regrets. 

"I  had  sooner  be  shot,"  he  said  to  himself,  "than 
to  talk  to  her  like  that.  But  every  word  of  it  was 
true.  And  maybe  she  will  find  it  out.  'Tis  a  strange, 
queer  world,  full  of  surprisin'  things,  and  'tis  hard 
to  steer  a  course  that  will  not  fetch  you  on  the  rocks. 


THE  CASTAWAYS  129 

But  I  held  true  to  me  compass  bearings  this  night, 
and  the  light  that  guided  me  was  the  right  one." 

He  mustered  his  men  and  held  them  ready  for 
the  boats  from  the  liner.  An  hour  later  the  defenders 
were  welcomed  on  board  the  Caronic,  which  promptly 
sailed  without  consulting  the  Spanish  cruiser.  They 
were  received  as  heroes  and  nothing  was  too  good 
for  them.  But  O'Shea  refused  to  accept  the  first- 
cabin  state-room  offered  him. 

"You  have  an  officers'  mess-room,"  he  told  Cap 
tain  Henderson,  "and  if  ye  don't  mind,  I  will  stay 
with  them  and  find  a  spare  bunk  for'ard." 

For  once  Johnny  Kent  refused  to  follow  the  lead 
of  his  skipper.  He  was  graciously  pleased  to  take 
the  quarters  allotted  him,  and  proposed  to  mingle 
with  the  passengers.  Early  next  morning  he  wal 
lowed  in  a  tub,  summoned  the  ship's  barber,  and 
arrayed  himself  in  clothes  borrowed  from  the  chief 
engineer  of  the  Caronic,  who  chanced  to  be  a  person 
of  ample  dimensions.  Thus  transformed,  Johnny 
Kent  was  no  longer  a  ruffian  of  the  high-seas.  He 
had  an  aspect  of  dignified,  mellowed  respectability. 
His  brick-red  countenance  radiated  kindly  interest 
and  benevolence.  Small  children  ran  to  him  and  in 
stantly  became  his  friends.  The  blustering  note  had 
gone  from  his  voice.  He  checked  his  worst  gram 
matical  blunders  and  his  shrewd  eyes  were  quick 
to  observe  the  manners  of  his  fellow-passengers, 
which  he  sedulously  set  himself  to  copy.  Strolling 
forward  after  breakfast,  he  discovered  Captain 
O'Shea  and  confided: 

"This  touch  of  high  life  suits  me  down  to  the 


130       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

heels,  Cap'n  Mike.  And  I'm  not  such  a  bull  in  a 
china-shop  as  you  might  think.  The  passengers  are 
crazy  to  meet  you.  They  want  to  hear  about  your 
adventures." 

"I  am  comfortable  right  here,  Johnny.  You  are 
welcome  to  the  bouquets.  Have  ye  seen  Miss  Hoi- 
lister  this  morning?" 

"No,  she's  still  abed,  but  the  ship's  doctor  says 
she  will  come  around  all  right.  I'll  surprise  her 
some,  won't  I?  Honestly,  Cap'n  Mike,  after  I  make 
two  or  three  more  voyages  with  you,  if  they're  risky 
enough  to  pay  big  wages,  I'm  goin'  to  pick  out  that 
farm  down  in  Maine  and  hand  over  a  first  payment 
on  it." 

"Have  ye  consulted  with  Miss  Hollister?" 

"Of  course.  She's  my  right  bower  when  it  comes 
to  good  advice.  Not  that  she  is  personally  inter 
ested — I  was  just  dreamin'  dreams,  you  understand 
— but  if  I  had  the  farm  maybe  I  could  see  her  again 
and  talk  about  pigs  and  hens,  and  gardens  and 
flowers." 

"You  are  not  as  down-hearted  as  when  ye  were 
on  the  key,  Johnny,"  smilingly  quoth  Captain 
O'Shea. 

"It's  the  clothes  and  the  refined  surroundin's, 
Cap'n  Mike.  I  take  to  'em  somehow  more  than  I 
ever  did  before.  I  seem  sort  of  changed." 

"'Tis  likely  a  first-class  marine  engineer  will  be 
spoiled  to  make  a  lubber  of  a  farmer,"  returned 
O'Shea. 

"It's  a  rough  life  we  lead,  Cap'n  Mike,  and  a  man 
of  my  age  hadn't  ought  to  stick  to  it  too  long." 


THE  CASTAWAYS  131 

Jack  Gorham  joined  them,  looking  even  leaner 
and  sadder  than  when  he  had  been  in  the  Fearless. 

"And  what  will  you  be  doing  with  yourself?" 
cordially  inquired  O'Shea. 

"Mr.  Van  Steen  offers  me  an  easy  job  in  New 
York,  sir,  and  a  salary,  whether  I  work  or  not.  But 
I'm  on  nobody's  pension-roll.  I  shall  get  out  of 
Jamaica  in  a  sail-boat  and  sneak  over  to  Cuba  and 
join  the  rebels." 

"And  will  big  Jiminez  go  with  ye?" 

"He  is  sort  of  tore  up  in  his  mind,  sir,  between 
following  you  on  the  chance  of  another  fancy  voyage 
and  duckin'  into  the  jungle  with  me." 

"Tell  him  to  go  with  you,  Jack." 

"Well,  Captain  O'Shea,  I  hope  I'll  have  the  pleas 
ure  of  sailing  with  you  again.  I've  enjoyed  it,"  ex 
claimed  the  soldier. 

"If  you  need  money,  Jack,  what  I  have  is  yours. 
I  have  a  bit  stowed  away  for  emergencies." 

"You  can  stake  Jiminez  and  me  to  a  meal- ticket 
in  Jamaica  and  the  price  of  a  little  boat,  sir,  and 
I'll  pay  the  loan  out  of  the  first  Spanish  officer  I 
pot  with  the  old  Springfield." 

When  the  stately  Caronic  steamed  into  the  harbor 
of  Kingston  the  passengers  crowded  her  rail  to  ad 
mire  the  verdure-clad  mountains  and  the  lovely 
vales  lush  with  palms  and  bananas.  The  excur 
sionists  planned  to  spend  the  day  ashore,  and  after 
they  had  disembarked,  the  crew  of  the  Fearless  and 
Colonel  Calvo's  Cubans  filed  down  the  gangway. 
Miss  Hollister,  Nora  Forbes,  and  Gerald  Van  Steen 
were  waiting  to  bid  them  farewell  and  God-speed. 


132       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

They  had  lived  and  suffered  so  many  things  to 
gether  that  it  was  difficult  to  realize  that  this  was 
the  journey's  end. 

Gerald  Van  Steen  spoke  awkwardly  and  with 
much  feeling. 

"You  have  been  very  good  to  us,  Captain  O'Shea. 
I  shall  not  make  an  ass  of  myself  by  offering  you 
money.  But  perhaps  I  can  help  you  to  find  another 
ship,  and  the  house  of  Van  Steen  &  Van  Steen  will 
always  be  at  your  service." 

"I  have  me  doubts  that  a  highly  respectable 
banking-house  will  care  to  back  my  enterprises," 
replied  O'Shea.  "But  now  that  Johnny  Kent  has 
violent  symptoms  of  mendin'  his  ways  there  may 
be  hope  for  me.  You  were  a  good  shipmate,  Mr. 
Van  Steen.  If  ever  ye  want  a  job,  I  will  be  glad 
to  sign  you  on  as  a  stoker." 

"Will  you  dine  with  us  at  the  hotel  to-day?" 

"Thank  you,  but  I  must  look  after  my  men." 

The  farewell  between  Nora  Forbes  and  Captain 
O'Shea  had  been  said  on  the  beach  in  the  starlight. 
Now  their  glances  met. 

"Good-by  and  God  bless  ye,"  said  he.  "The 
voyage  seems  like  a  dream,  no  doubt." 

"Perhaps  it  may  some  day,  but  not  yet,"  she 
told  him. 

"My  dear  friends,  that  voyage  was  the  realest 
thing  that  ever  happened,"  was  the  earnest  declara 
tion  of  Johnny  Kent,  and  no  dissent  was  heard  from 
that  shipwrecked  and  marooned  spinster,  Miss 
Katharine  Hollister. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO 


CAPTAIN  MICHAEL  O'SnEA  and  Johnny  Kent  sat 
by  a  window  of  the  Jolly  Mermaid  tavern  at  Black- 
wall  on  the  Thames  below  London.  These  two  lei 
surely  drank  mugs  of  bitter-beer  and  gazed  with 
professional  interest  at  the  crowded  shipping  of  that 
great  seaport  thoroughfare  which  sailor-folk  call  Lon 
don  River. 

The  Jolly  Mermaid  was  one  of  a  jostling  row  of 
ancient  buildings  with  bow-windows  and  balconies 
painted  in  bright  hues  which  overhung  the  tide  at 
Blackwall,  to  remind  one  of  the  maritime  London  of 
towering  frigates  and  high-pooped  galleons  and  stout 
seamen  of  Devon.  The  near-by  shore  was  filled  with 
ship-yards  and  weedy  wharves,  and  a  little  way 
down  river  was  the  entrance  of  the  vast  inland  basin 
called  the  East  India  Docks,  where  soared  a  wonder 
ful  confusion  of  spars  and  rigging,  and  the  red  funnels 
of  the  Union  Castle  liners  lay  side  by  side. 

On  the  turbid  river  moved  in  procession  a  singular 
variety  of  craft:  drifting  Thames  barges  with  dyed 
sails,  square-riggers  in  tow,  Norwegian  tramps  half 
hidden  beneath  uncouth  deck-loads  of  lumber,  rusty 
Spanish  fruiters,  coastwise  schooners,  spray-stained 

133 


134      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

steam-trawlers  from  the  Dogger  Bank,  stubby 
Dutch  eel-schuits,  stately  mail-boats  homeward 
bound  from  the  tropics,  sooty  colliers  from  Cardiff. 

They  slid  past  with  an  incessant  din  of  whistles 
which,  warning,  expostulating,  shouted  the  rules  of 
the  road  in  the  language  of  the  sea. 

These  familiar  sights  and  sounds  pleased  Captain 
O'Shea,  and  he  was  contented  with  his  seat  by  the 
window  of  the  Jolly  Mermaid  and  the  excellent  brew 
dispensed  by  the  apple-cheeked  young  woman  be 
hind  the  bar.  Amphibious  loafers  drifted  in  and 
out  or  cast  anchor  on  the  wharf  alongside,  riggers, 
watermen,  dock-laborers,  sailors,  who  seemed  to  have 
a  world  of  time  on  their  hands.  Their  gait  was 
slouching,  their  attire  careless,  and  their  conversa 
tion  peppered  with  sanguinary  references  to  their 
eyes. 

"  'Tis  a  restful  place,  Johnny,  and  as  diverting  as 
a  theatre,"  observed  O'Shea. 

The  chief  engineer  returned  rather  fretfully: 

"I'm  willing  to  be  idle  in  this  bit  of  slack- water 
for  a  while,  and  sort  of  pull  myself  together,  Cap'n 
Mike.  But  this  don't  earn  wages,  and  I  ain't  mak- 
in'  much  headway  toward  buyin'  that  farm  down 
in  the  State  o'  Maine." 

Whimsical  amusement  lighted  O'Shea's  bold, 
smooth-shaven  features  as  he  replied: 

"I  am  not  a  man  to  seek  a  humdrum  life  afloat 
or  ashore,  you  impatient  old  pirate.  There  was  a 
lot  of  fuss  kicked  up  at  home  about  that  Cuban 
voyage  of  ours,  as  ye  well  know.  And  there  was  a 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  135 

strong  chance  that  we  would  be  laid  by  the  heels 
in  one  of  Uncle  Sam's  jails  for  breaking  the  laws 
between  nations.  We  are  better  off  where  we  are." 

"  That  Spanish  gun-boat  got  in  our  way  and  her  in 
tentions  was  plain  blood-thirsty,"  grumbled  Johnny 
Kent.  "What  if  we  did  ram  her  and  then  blow 
her  up?  She  interfered  with  men  who  were  tryin' 
to  make  an  honest  livin'  on  the  high-seas." 

"Argue  as  far  as  ye  like,  Johnny.  It  won't  alter 
the  fact  that  it  was  healthier  for  you  and  me  to 
make  ourselves  hard  to  find." 

"But  it's  discouragin'  to  look  for  another  ship 
here  in  England,  Cap'n  Mike.  We're  fish  out  of 
water." 

"'Tis  not  easy  to  find  our  kind  of  a  ship  any 
where,"  O'Shea  reminded  him.  "There  are  no  rev 
olutions  poppin'  the  lid  off  in  Central  or  South 
America,  and  we  will  sit  tight  and  trust  in  me  lucky 
star.  I  have  a  gold  piece  or  two  left  in  the  toe  of 
the  sock  where  I  stowed  it  against  times  like  this. 
And  we  have  not  sunk  so  low  that  we  must  sign  on 
for  a  lawful  voyage." 

Johnny  Kent  crooked  a  finger  at  the  bar-maid  and 
sought  consolation  in  another  mug  of  bitter,  while 
Captain  O'Shea  turned  to  a  morning  newspaper  and 
ran  his  eye  down  the  ship-news  column  to  note  the 
arrivals  and  departures.  Then  he  cast  a  cursory 
glance  at  the  foreign  despatches,  which  might,  per 
chance,  disclose  some  disturbance  of  the  world's  peace 
and  an  opportunity  for  venturesome  men  used  to 
alarms  and  stratagems. 


136       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Johnny  Kent  was  moved  to  begin  an  aimless  yarn 
about  a  certain  wicked  skipper  of  Yankee  clipper 
fame  who  fetched  his  second  mate  all  the  way  home 
from  Cape  Town  doubled  up  in  a  hen-coop  as  a  pun 
ishment  for  impertinence.  O'Shea  listened  politely, 
but  with  a  manner  slightly  absent-minded,  having 
heard  the  tale  of  the  unfortunate  second  mate  and 
the  hen-coop  in  at  least  five  different  ports. 

The  yarn  was  cut  short,  and  the  two  men  screwed 
around  in  their  chairs  to  stare  at  a  visitor  whose 
presence  in  the  humble  longshore  tavern  of  the  Jolly 
Mermaid  was  most  extraordinary. 

He  was  an  elderly  and  very  dignified  gentleman, 
of  a  spare  figure  and  the  stiffly  erect  carriage  of  an 
army  officer.  His  features,  thin  and  rather  refined 
than  forceful,  were  given  an  air  of  distinction  by  a 
white  mustache  and  imperial.  From  the  silk  hat 
and  frock-coat,  with  the  ribbon  of  an  order  in  the 
lapel,  to  the  tan  gaiters  and  patent-leather  shoes, 
he  was  dressed  with  fastidious  nicety.  In  the  dingy 
tap-room  of  the  Jolly  Mermaid  he  was  startlingly 
incongruous. 

The  stranger  had  the  grand  manner  and  it  fitted 
him  like  a  glove.  He  was  not  offensively  self- 
important,  but  one  conjectured  him  to  be  a  person 
age  who  expected  the  world  to  show  him  deference. 
The  bar-maid,  who  was  no  dunce  at  reading  human 
nature,  bobbed  a  courtesy  and  withheld  the  flippant 
persiflage  which  was  wont  to  delight  the  nautical 
patrons  of  the  place. 

A  moment  later  there  entered  the  tavern  a  brisk 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  137 

young  man  with  a  sandy  complexion  and  a  roving 
eye,  who  was  smartly  but  showily  attired,  a  keen, 
up-to-snuff  young  man  who  knew  his  way  about. 
With  a  respectful  bow  he  addressed  the  impressive 
elderly  gentleman. 

"I  told  him  to  meet  us  here,  if  Your  Majesty 
pleases." 

The  apple-cheeked  bar-maid  was  threatened  with 
a  fainting  spell  at  the  intimation  that  royalty  stood 
within  the  tavern  walls,  but  rallied  bravely  to  sug 
gest  in  a  fluttered  voice: 

"There's  a  tidy  little  back  room,  your  royal  'igh- 
ness,  where  you  can  set  down  private-like  without 
common  folks  starin'  and  gawkin'  at  your  Worship." 

"Thanks.  I  am  rather  tired  after  tramping  about 
the  docks,"  amiably  replied  the  personage  in  the 
pleasantly  modulated  accents  of  the  cultivated  Eng 
lishman.  To  the  brisk  young  man  he  said: 

"Let  us  sit  down,  my  dear  baron,  and  look  over 
some  of  the  memoranda  while  we  are  waiting." 

"Certainly,  Your  Majesty,"  quoth  the  young 
man,  and  with  this  they  passed  into  the  little  back 
room  and  closed  the  door.  A  dock-laborer  ripped 
out  an  oath  of  amazement  and  clattered  from  the 
bar  to  tell  his  friends  that  "one  o'  them  blighted, 
bleedin'  kings  was  in  the  Jolly  Mermaid,  large  as 
life,  so  'elp  me  Gawd." 

That  brace  of  exiled  mariners,  Captain  O'Shea  and 
Johnny  Kent,  gazed  blankly  at  each  other,  and 
tacitly  agreed  to  wait  and  try  to  fathom  the  riddle. 
They  had  dealt  with  presidents  of  uneasy  republics 


138       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

near  the  equator,  but  a  real  king,  to  be  surveyed  at 
close  range,  was  a  fascinating  novelty. 

Johnny  Kent  had  carefully  adjusted  his  spectacles 
to  survey  this  rare  object,  and  he  now  shoved  them 
up  beyond  his  bushy  brows  before  he  hoarsely  con 
fided  to  his  comrade: 

"I  thought  they  went  about  disguised,  Cap'n 
Mike,  same  as  we  run  a  blockade  with  no  lights 
and  the  steamer's  name-boards  covered  up.  Is  he 
the  real  thing  or  is  it  just  play-actin'?" 

"Europe  is  full  of  kings  that  have  been  kicked 
out  of  their  berths,"  answered  O'Shea.  "Maybe 
this  one  is  a  has-been,  but  he  doesn't  look  to  me 
like  a  counterfeit.  And  I  would  not  set  him  down 
for  a  lunatic  out  for  a  stroll  with  his  keeper." 

"He  handles  himself  as  sane  as  you  or  me,"  agreed 
the  chief  engineer.  "But  this  is  surely  a  doggoned 
queer  place  to  find  a  stray  king." 

"  "Pis  worth  watching,  Johnny.  I'm  on  me  beam- 
ends  for  puzzlement." 

Ere  long  there  appeared  from  the  street  a  bow- 
legged,  barrel-chested,  hairy-fisted  man  with  a  roll 
ing  gait,  whom  a  landlubber  might  have  classified 
as  a  rough-and-hearty  British  seaman  accustomed 
to  command  vessels  in  the  merchant  trade.  A  cap 
tious  critic  would  have  perhaps  surmised  that  he 
had  been  pickled  in  rum  as  well  as  hi  brine.  Glanc 
ing  at  a  card  held  between  a  grimy  thumb  and  fin 
ger,  he  asked  the  bar-maid: 

"Is  Baron  Frederick  Martin  Strothers  hereabouts, 
my  girl?  Captain  Handy's  compliments." 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  139 

"If  you  mean  the  dashin'  young  man  with  a  red 
weskit,  'e  is  settin'  in  yonder  with  His  Majesty." 

"Right  you  are!"  exclaimed  Captain  Handy. 
"My  business  is  with  His  Majesty,  but  the  baron 
has  charge  of  the  arrangements  as  minister  of  fi 
nance.  A  nipper  of  Scotch  whiskey,  neat,  miss, 
before  I  talk  to  'em." 

"What  sort  of  a  king  is  'e,  and  what's  his  bloom- 
in'  handle?"  she  eagerly  besought  him.  "Are  you 
makin'  gyme  of  me?" 

The  hearty  British  shipmaster  looked  inscruta 
ble,  tossed  the  whiskey  into  his  heated  coppers,  and 
slowly  assured  her: 

"Women's  curiosity  is  the  fatal  weakness  of  the 
sex,  my  dear.  A  king  is  a  king  wherever  you  find 
him.  And  my  advice  to  you  is  not  to  go  braggin' 
about  and  telling  all  hands  that  His  Majesty  has 
patronized  the  Jolly  Mermaid." 

He  trudged  to  the  rear  room,  hat  in  hand,  and 
timidly  knocked  on  the  door.  As  it  was  opened, 
the  quick  ear  of  Captain  O'Shea  heard  the  myste 
rious  personage  saying  to  the  brisk  young  man: 

"A  steamer  of  the  tonnage  of  this  Tyneshire  Glen 
is  what  I  wish.  If  your  investigation  has  satis 
fied  you  that  she  is  thoroughly  sea-worthy  and  in 
good  repair  and  Captain  Handy  also  recommends 
her " 

The  door  closed  behind  Captain  Handy,  and 
O'Shea,  glancing  in  that  direction,  smiled  cynically 
and  observed  to  Johnny  Kent: 

"Did  ye  size  up  this  Handy  man?    You  know 


140       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

the  kind.  Every  big  port  has  them:  broken  ship 
masters,  disrated  mates,  that  aren't  fit  to  take  a 
scow  to  sea." 

"Sure!  They've  borrowed  money  off  me  from 
Baltimore  to  Singapore.  This  Captain  Handy  must 
have  sighted  an  easy  mark  in  the  offing." 

O'Shea  pondered  for  a  moment  and  asked: 

"Did  ye  hear  mention  of  the  Tyneshire  Glen 
steamer  just  now?  Do  you  happen  to  know  the 
vessel?  I  can't  place  her." 

Johnny  Kent  grunted  as  if  he  had  sat  upon  a  tack 
and  answered  with  heated  emphasis: 

"Maybe  it's  the  old  Tyneshire  Glen  that  was  car- 
ryin'  cotton  out  of  Savannah  years  ago.  I  went 
aboard  to  see  her  chief  once  and  her  plates  was 
rusted  so  thin  that  I  could  have  thrown  a  wrench 
through  'em." 

Captain  Handy  had  left  the  door  of  the  back 
room  unlatched  and  a  gusty  draught  of  sea-breeze 
blew  it  partly  open.  The  watchful  pair  in  the  tap 
room  had  a  glimpse  of  Captain  Handy  standing 
stolidly  between  His  Majesty  and  the  minister  of 
finance,  and  heard  him  huskily  declaim: 

"The  Tyneshire  Glen  is  a  bargain  at  thirty  thou 
sand  pounds,  and  you  needn't  take  my  word  for  it. 
Baron  Strothers  here  has  interviewed  the  brokers 
that  have  her  for  sale,  and  he  knows  the  price  they 
put  on  her." 

"I  have  full  confidence  in  the  judgment  of  my 
minister  of  finance,  with  Captain  Handy's  expert 
opinion  to  assist  him,"  easily  replied  His  Majesty. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  141 

"Most  of  my  papers  were  lost  at  sea,"  hastily 
put  in  Captain  Handy,  as  if  to  forestall  an  awkward 
question.  "They  were  tied  up  together,  your  Royal 
'ighness,  when  the  Falls  of  Clyde  steamer  went  down 
and  I  saved  the  lives  of  forty-seven  passengers  and 
was  the  last  man  to  leave  her  when  she  foundered 
under  my  feet.  The  newspapers  praised  me  so  that 
a  modest  man  'ud  blush  to  repeat  it." 

"Baron  Strothers  has  investigated  your  record, 
so  he  informs  me,  and  he  advises  me  that  you  are 
to  be  depended  upon,"  was  the  warm  assurance. 

In  the  tap-room  O'Shea  chuckled  skeptically  and 
said  to  Johnny  Kent: 

"  'Tis  likely  enough  he  lost  his  papers,  but  I  mis 
trust  his  version  of  the  story.  What  kind  of  a  flim 
flam  is  this,  anyhow?  The  king  and  the  minister 
of  finance  are  discussing  a  rotten  ship  and  a  rotten 
skipper  as  if  the  both  of  them  were  to  be  taken 
seriously." 

After  more  conversation  which  the  listeners  failed 
to  catch,  the  trio  in  the  back  room  ended  the  ses 
sion  and  prepared  to  leave  the  tavern.  As  they 
walked  out  past  the  bar  Captain  Handy  was  argu 
ing  with  awkward  gestures,  the  elderly  personage 
was  listening  courteously,  and  the  brisk  young  man 
alertly  kept  an  eye  on  both,  as  though  he  had 
an  absorbing  interest  in  the  interview.  In  front  of 
the  tavern  they  parted,  Captain  Handy  to  turn  in 
the  direction  of  the  East  India  Docks,  the  puzzling 
pair  of  notables  to  seek  the  railroad  station  to 
London. 


142       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Upon  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  there  fell  a  pro 
longed  spell  of  silence.  Each  was  piecing  theories 
together  and  discarding  them  as  unsatisfactory.  Of 
one  thing  they  were  convinced.  This  royal  visita 
tion  had  not  been  an  elaborate  hoax,  and  the  explana 
tion  of  lunacy  was  finally  and  emphatically  dismissed. 

"'Tis  no  case  of  barnacles  on  the  intellect,"  was 
the  verdict  of  O'Shea,  "barrin'  the  fact  that  he  ought 
to  have  more  sense  than  to  listen  to  the  palaver  of 
a  rascal  like  this  Captain  Handy.  Why  didn't  we 
think  to  follow  them  up  and  see  where  they  went?" 

"I'm  too  short-winded  to  make  a  good  sleuth- 
hound,  Cap'n  Mike,  and  it  ain't  dignified  for  a  man 
of  my  years." 

"Well,  then,  who  is  this  Captain  Handy?"  de 
manded  O'Shea.  "We'll  try  another  tack." 

He  questioned  the  bar-maid,  who  was  disappoint 
ing. 

"The  man  never  showed  hisself  in  'ere  before," 
said  she.  "You're  more  likely  to  find  out  about 
'im  at  the  docks." 

"Say,  Cap'n  Mike,"  exclaimed  Johnny  Kent  with 
puckered  brow,  "ain't  there  some  kind  of  a  book 
written  about  kings,  their  habits  and  their  names, 
and  the  various  breeds  of  'em?  And  where  you're 
most  apt  to  find  'em?  Do  they  generally  run  around 
loose?" 

"I'm  not  personally  acquainted  with  a  whole  lot 
of  them,  Johnny;  but  as  a  rule  'tis  safe  to  bet  they 
don't  come  wanderin'  into  sailors'  taverns  convoyed 
by  the  minister  of  finance." 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  143 

"Suppose  we  take  his  word  for  it,"  was  the  sug 
gestion.  "Gall  him  a  king.  He's  lookin'  for  a  ship 
and  a  captain,  ain't  he?" 

"Now  you  talk  hard  sense,  Johnny.  That's  where 
I  pricked  up  my  ears.  Maybe  we  can  cross  his  bows 
again  if  we  look  sharp." 

Next  morning  they  carefully  scrutinized  the 
"Court  Circular"  of  the  London  Times,  and  were 
more  at  sea  than  ever  at  discovering  that  the  only 
visiting  royalty  comprised  an  unimportant  cousin  of 
the  house  of  Hanover  from  a  German  duchy  and 
the  dusky  ruler  of  a  native  state  of  India.  That  a 
full-fledged  king  and  a  minister  of  his  cabinet,  both 
indubitably  Englishmen,  could  be  strolling  about 
London  unnoticed  by  the  newspapers  and  unknown 
to  the  public  was  fairly  incredible,  and  yet  no  men 
tion  could  anywhere  be  found  of  the  illustrious  pa 
trons  of  the  Jolly  Mermaid,  although  O'Shea  bought 
the  morning  journals  by  the  fistful. 

It  occurred  to  him  to  pay  a  call  at  a  ship-brokers' 
office  down  in  Leadenhall  Street,  and  Johnny  Kent 
rode  with  him  on  top  of  a  'bus.  They  had  made 
the  acquaintance  of  the  managing  partner  of  the 
firm  under  the  palms  of  a  Venezuelan  seaport,  and 
he  cherished  a  strong  friendship  for  this  pair  of  ad 
venturous  rovers.  He  was  anxious  to  find  a  ship 
for  O'Shea,  and  the  latter  dropped  in  now  and  then 
in  search  of  news. 

The  comrades  twain  were  about  to  dodge  through 
the  traffic  of  Leadenhall  Street  and  enter  the  office 
of  their  friend  when  O'Shea  plucked  Johnny  Kent 


144       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

by  the  sleeve  and  pulled  him  back  into  an  adjacent 
door-way.  A  brisk,  sandy-haired  young  man  was 
also  doubling  among  the  stream  of  vehicles  which 
roared  from  curb  to  curb  and  aiming  his  course 
for  the  ship-brokers'  office. 

"'Tis  the  minister  of  finance,  Johnny,"  cau 
tiously  spoke  O'Shea.  "Look  at  him.  There  he 
goes,  right  into  Tavistock  &  Huntley's,  the  same 
destination  as  ours." 

"Why  not  go  in  and  meet  him,  Cap'n  Mike? 
Maybe  George  Huntley  will  introduce  us  and  we 
can  slip  in  a  few  questions." 

"Because  I  do  not  like  this  sprightly  right  bower 
of  royalty,  Johnny.  I  took  a  violent  dislike  to  the 
Baron  Frederick  Martin  Strothers  at  first  sight. 
And  me  hunches  about  people  are  worth  heeding 
when  they  take  hold  of  me  as  strong  as  this  one 
did." 

They  surmised  that  the  brisk  young  man  with  the 
red  waistcoat  must  have  business  to  transact  with 
Tavistock  &  Huntley,  for  he  remained  inside  a 
good  half-hour.  Then  the  watchers  caught  no  more 
than  a  farewell  glimpse  of  him  as  he  hastily  emerged 
and  popped  into  a  passing  hansom.  Thereupon  they 
sauntered  into  the  ship-brokers'  office  and  were  cor 
dially  greeted  by  George  Huntley,  managing  part 
ner,  a  stocky,  bald-headed  person  who  looked  as  sub 
stantial  as  a  brick  house.  The  spirit  of  romance 
was  in  him,  however,  and  he  secretly  envied  O'Shea 
his  illogical  pursuit  of  hazards  for  sheer  love  of 
them. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  145 

Steering  them  into  a  small  private  room,  he 
plumped  himself  into  the  chair  at  the  desk,  waved 
them  to  a  leather-covered  lounge,  and  inquired  with 
much  gusto: 

"And  how  are  my  disreputable  friends  this  morn 
ing?  Anything  in  the  wind?" 

"Tis  still  blowing  dead  calm  for  us,  but  the 
weather  is  suspicious  in  one  quarter  of  the  com 
pass,"  answered  O'Shea.  "Tell  me,  George,  what 
do  you  know  about  the  young  man  that  just  now 
whisked  out  of  here — the  fancy  lad  with  the  loud 
vest  and  the  high-steppin'  manner?" 

Huntley  tilted  his  chair,  clasped  his  hands  across 
a  comfortable  waistband,  and  replied  in  his  deliber 
ate  way: 

"I  have  laid  eyes  on  him  only  twice.  His  name 
is  Strothers,  I  believe,  and  he  calls  himself  a  baron. 
One  of  those  Continental  titles,  I  fancy.  You  buy 
them,  you  know.  This  day  of  last  week  he  came 
into  our  place  with  Captain  Handy,  who  used  to  sail 
in  the  Blue  Anchor  service." 

"Got  into  trouble  with  his  owners,  didn't  he?" 
interrupted  O'Shea,  at  a  guess. 

"Yes.  He  lost  a  steamer  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
and  the  evidence  went  to  show  that  he  was  drunk 
at  the  time.  His  certificate  was  taken  away  or 
suspended;  I  forget  the  details.  A  rather  shabby 
lot  is  Handy.  As  I  was  about  to  tell  you,  O'Shea,  the 
pair  of  them,  Captain  Handy  and  this  spruce  young 
man,  Strothers,  came  in  to  ask  our  cash  selling-price 
for  the  Tyneshire  Glen,  which  is  laid  up  in  the  East 


146       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

India  Docks.  We  have  no  interest  in  the  vessel 
beyond  representing  the  owners,  who  want  to  get 
rid  of  her." 

"And  did  you  give  the  precious  pair  of  two- 
spots  a  price  on  her?"  blandly  inquired  O'Shea. 

"I  offered  them  the  Tyneshire  Glen  for  twenty- 
four  thousand  pounds  as  she  stands,"  replied  Hunt- 
ley.  "It's  all  she's  worth.  She  is  a  big  steamer, 
almost  five  thousand  tons,  but  she  will  need  a  lot 
of  repairs.  Captain  Handy  claimed  that  he  had 
found  a  possible  buyer  in  whose  interests  young 
Strothers  was  acting.  Of  course  we  were  willing 
to  pay  Handy  a  decent  commission  if  the  deal  went 
through." 

O'Shea  looked  sidewise  at  Johnny  Kent,  who,  on 
occasions,  was  bright  enough  to  see  through  a  hole 
in  a  grindstone.  They  kept  their  thoughts  to  them 
selves,  and  O'Shea  commented  non-committally : 

"Of  course  Captain  Handy  is  entitled  to  a  com 
mission  if  he  finds  ye  a  customer  for  the  steamer, 
George.  'Tis  an  honest  chance  for  the  poor  divil 
to  pick  up  a  few  dollars.  And  so  the  young  man, 
Strothers,  came  back  this  morning?  Do  I  show  too 
much  curiosity  in  asking  what  he  had  to  say?" 

"You  are  welcome  to  all  I  know.  He  told  me 
that  the  gentleman  whose  interests  he  represented 
had  inspected  the  Tyneshire  Glen  yesterday  and 
thought  she  would  answer  his  purpose.  The  price 
was  satisfactory  and  he  would  like  a  three-days' 
option,  which  I  was  very  willing  to  give  him." 

"And  the  price  was  still  twenty-four  thousand 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  147 

pounds?"  violently  put  in  Johnny  Kent  with  a  snort 
as  if  his  steam  were  rising. 

"Precisely  twenty-four  thousand  pounds,  or  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  of  your  Yan 
kee  currency  or  thereabouts.  Are  you  thinking  of 
buying  her  yourself,  Johnny?"  said  Huntley  with  a 
broad  smile. 

"Not  on  your  life,"  was  the  fervent  response. 
"  I'd  be  afraid  to  sneeze  on  board  of  her  in  the  docks 
for  fear  her  rivets  would  fly  off." 

"Oh,  she  isn't  as  bad  as  all  that.  A  well-built 
steamer  is  the  Tyneshire  Glen,  with  lots  of  service 
in  her." 

"What  she  needs  is  a  new  hull,  boilers,  and  en 
gines,"  grunted  Johnny.  "Say,  George  Huntley, 
did  this  young  man,  Strothers,  mention  anything 
about  buyin'  the  steamer  for  a  king  that  is  roamin' 
around  London  without  any  tag  to  him?" 

"A king!"  ejaculated  the  ship-broker,  blinking  like 
an  astonished  owl.  "Are  you  chaps  raggin'  me?" 

"Maybe  the  joke  is  on  us,  George,  or  else  Cap'n 
Mike  and  me  have  been  seein'  visions  and  hearin' 
things  that  ain't  so." 

Huntley  cast  an  appealing  glance  at  O'Shea,  who 
said: 

"'Tis  evident  that  ye  are  not  acquainted  with 
our  particular  king,  George.  You  do  not  move  in 
royal  circles.  We  will  tell  ye  the  answer  later. 
About  this  young  man  that  calls  himself  a  baron. 
Did  he  leave  any  address  behind  him?" 

"Yes.     He  is  staying  at  the  Carleton.     If  the  op- 


148       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

tion  expires  I  shall  take  it  for  granted  that  he 
doesn't  want  the  steamer.  If  he  pays  down  the 
cash  I  shall  be  ready  to  make  out  the  papers  and 
give  Captain  Handy  his  commission.  Now  you 
ought  to  tell  me  why  you  are  so  keen  on  knowing 
all  about  the  business.  If  you  keep  mum,  you  are 
a  pair  of  blighters  and  no  friends  of  mine." 

O'Shea  hauled  Johnny  Kent  to  his  feet  and  re 
marked  : 

"We  thank  you  kindly,  George.  You  are  a  good- 
natured  man  and  we  have  made  a  nuisance  of  our 
selves.  'Tis  the  honest  truth  that  we  know  very 
little  more  about  this  young  man  and  the  Tyneshire 
Glen  than  ye  know  yourself.  But  what  we  do  know 
we  will  first  investigate." 

"You  are  conspirators  born  and  bred,"  laughed 
Huntley,  rather  pleased  to  have  an  ordinary  busi 
ness  transaction  wrapped  in  romantic  mystery. 
"Come  and  dine  with  me  as  soon  as  you  have  un 
ravelled  the  plot." 

They  straightway  betook  themselves  to  the  nearest 
public-house,  where  in  a  quiet  corner  a  council  of 
war  was  convened.  It  was  obvious  that  they  had 
run  athwart  a  scheme  to  defraud  the  confiding  pur 
chaser  of  the  Tyneshire  Glen.  And  their  sympathies 
went  out  strongly  to  the  royal  victim.  Whether  or 
not  he  was  a  real  king  was  beside  the  mark.  He 
was  very  much  the  gentleman,  and  he  had  trusted 
too  much  in  the  loyalty  and  integrity  of  that  enter 
prising  young  man  who  was  called  the  minister  of 
finance. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  149 

"Tis  as  plain  as  the  big  nose  on  that  red  face 
of  yours,  Johnny,"  exclaimed  O'Shea.  "The  two 
crooks  are  standing  in  together.  Captain  Handy 
recommends  the  ship  as  all  right.  This  Baron  Fred 
erick  Martin  Strothers  backs  him  up  and  advises 
His  Majesty  to  buy  her.  The  two  blackguards  get 
a  price  of  twenty-four  thousand  pounds  from  George 
Huntley,  and  then  tell  this  innocent  potentate  that 
the  price  is  thirty  thousand  pounds.  The  difference 
is  six  thousand  pounds — thirty  thousand  dollars — 
which  this  pair  of  land-sharks  will  split  up  and  stick 
in  their  own  pockets.  And  they  will  doctor  the  bill 
of  sale  so  the  poor  deluded  monarch  will  never  know 
what  happened  to  him." 

"That  was  what  we  heard  'em  say  in  the  Jolly 
Mermaid,  Cap'n  Mike.  The  price  was  thirty  thou 
sand  pounds." 

"'Tis  me  opinion  that  a  minister  of  finance  like 
this  could  bankrupt  a  kingdom,  give  him  time 
enough,"  said  O'Shea.  "He  is  working, the  game 
for  all  it's  worth.  He  will  loot  the  treasury  as  long 
as  it  looks  safe  and  easy,  and  then  he  will  resign  his 
what-do-ye-call-it — his  portfolio — and  leave  his  bun 
coed  Majesty  to  figure  out  the  deficit." 

"That  poor  king  deserves  to  be  delivered  from  his 
lovin'  friends,"  replied  Johnny  Kent.  "What's  the 
orders  now?" 

"We  will  ring  up  full  speed  ahead  and  find  this 
king.  If  the  minister  of  finance  is  at  the  Carleton 
Hotel,  'tis  a  good  bet  that  His  Majesty  is  not  far 
away.  That  busy  young  man  will  not  separate 
himself  from  a  good  thing." 


150       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  fashionable  Carleton  was  unfamiliar  territory 
to  the  inquisitive  mariners,  but  they  strolled  boldly 
through  the  corridors  until  they  fetched  up  in  front 
of  a  desk  presided  over  by  an  immaculate  clerk 
with  a  languid  manner  who  appeared  indifferent  to 
their  wants.  After  waiting  several  minutes  for  some 
recognition,  Captain  Michael  O'Shea  sweetly  re 
marked  : 

"Will  ye  answer  a  civil  question  or  will  I  climb 
over  the  counter  and  jolt  you  wide-awake?" 

The  languid  person  looked  attentively  at  the  reso 
lute  features  of  the  speaker  and  hastily  answered: 

"Beg  pardon — beg  pardon — what  can  I  do  for 
you,  sir?" 

"Tell  me  if  a  king  is  stopping  in  this  hotel  of 
yours,  and  does  he  have  a  minister  of  finance  called 
Baron  Strothers?" 

"Ah,  you  mean  His  Majesty,  King  Osmond  of 
Trinadaro,"  and  the  clerk  delivered  these  resound 
ing  syllables  with  unction.  "Yes,  he  is  a  guest  of  the 
hotel." 

"He  is  a  real  one,  do  you  get  that?"  soberly  whis 
pered  O'Shea  to  his  comrade  before  he  again  ad 
dressed  the  clerk. 

"We  wish  to  see  him  on  important  business.  We 
will  write  our  names  on  a  card." 

"Baron  Strothers  receives  such  callers  as  are  per 
sonally  unknown  to  His  Majesty,"  the  clerk  ex 
plained. 

"We  do  not  wish  to  see  the  young  man,"  said 
O'Shea. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  151 

"My  orders  are  to  send  all  cards  and  messages  to 
him,"  persisted  the  clerk. 

The  two  visitors  drew  apart  from  the  desk  and 
put  their  heads  together. 

"The  minister  of  finance  will  not  let  us  get  within 
a  cable's  length  of  his  boss  if  he  thinks  we  are  sea- 
farin'  men,"  whispered  O'Shea. 

"The  swindler  may  have  took  notice  of  us  in  the 
Jolly  Mermaid,"  growled  Johnny  Kent.  "We  might 
send  up  a  card  and  make  headway  as  far  as  this 
Strothers  person.  Then  I  could  knock  him  down 
and  sit  on  his  head  while  you  rummaged  the  royal 
apartments  and  found  the  king." 

"Your  methods  might  strike  these  hotel  people 
as  violent,  Johnny.  You're  a  good  man  at  sea,  but 
I  would  not  call  ye  a  diplomat.  Anyhow,  we  will 
take  a  chance  of  running  the  blockade  that  this 
crooked  minister  of  finance  has  established  to  pre 
vent  honest  men  from  talking  to  his  employer." 

Returning  to  the  desk,  O'Shea  picked  up  a  pen 
and  wrote  on  a  blank  card: 

"Captain  Michael  O'Shea  and  John  Kent,  Esq., 
U.  S.  A.,  to  see  King  Osmond  on  a  matter  that  he  will 
find  interesting" 

Promptly  in  answer  to  this  message  came  word 
that  Baron  Strothers  would  see  the  gentlemen.  A 
hotel  attendant  conducted  them  to  a  suite  on  the 
second  floor.  At  the  threshold  of  a  sort  of  anteroom 
they  were  met  by  the  brisk,  self-possessed  young 
man,  who  gazed  sharply  at  the  sunburnt  strangers, 
hesitated  a  trifle,  and  invited  them  to  enter.  Offer- 


152       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

ing  them  cigars,  he  bade  them  be  seated,  and  again 
scrutinized  them  as  if  striving  to  recall  where  he 
might  have  seen  them  elsewhere. 

Captain  O'Shea,  at  his  ease  in  most  circumstances, 
and  particularly  now  when  he  held  the  whip-hand, 
asked  at  once: 

"Are  we  to  have  the  pleasure  of  paying  our  re 
spects  to  His  Majesty?" 

"You  Americans  are  so  delightfully  informal," 
smiled  the  minister  of  finance.  "An  audience  is 
arranged  beforehand  if  I  consider  it  worth  while." 

"But  this  king  of  yours  takes  a  special  interest 
in  ships  and  sailors,"  suggested  O'Shea.  "And  we 
have  information  that  he  will  find  useful." 

Baron  Frederick  Martin  Strothers  changed  color 
just  a  trifle  and  his  manner  was  perceptibly  uneasy 
as  he  explained: 

"I  am  awfully  sorry,  but  he  is  not  in  at  present. 
He  will  be  disappointed,  I'm  sure.  You  are  ship 
masters  or  something  of  the  sort,  I  take  it." 

"You  guess  right,"  was  the  dry  comment  of 
O'Shea.  "I  have  heard  that  ye  are  fond  of  talk 
ing  to  seafaring  men  yourself." 

The  shot  went  home.  The  young  man  moved  in 
his  chair  and  looked  painfully  uncomfortable.  Ner 
vously  twisting  a  cigar  in  his  ringers,  he  replied: 

"Ah,  yes.  Now  I  know.  You  must  have  seen 
me  at  the  East  India  Docks." 

"There  or  thereabouts,  but  no  matter,"  said 
O'Shea.  "His  Majesty  is  not  in,  you  say.  And 
when  will  he  be  in  the  hotel  again?" 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  153 

"Not  for  several  hours.  He  went  out  with  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs  to  keep  an  important 
appointment.  Will  you  state  your  business  to  me? 
That  is  the  customary  procedure." 

Johnny  Kent  was  for  denouncing  the  young  man 
to  his  face,  but  O'Shea  nudged  him  and  smoothly 
made  answer: 

"It  would  please  us  better  to  see  the  king  him 
self.  We  can  come  again,  or  we  can  look  for  him 
on  his  way  in  and  out  of  the  hotel." 

The  young  man  could  not  dissemble  signs  of  im 
patience  to  be  rid  of  these  pertinacious  intruders. 

"If  you  have  a  ship  to  sell,  or  you  are  looking 
for  positions,  this  is  only  wasting  time,"  said  he. 
"I  presume  you  heard  something  of  our  errand 
among  the  docks." 

"Yes,  we  have  heard  of  it,"  and  O'Shea  bit  off 
the  words.  "Well,  Johnny,  shall  we  go  below  and 
wait  till  His  Majesty  heaves  in  sight?  This  min 
ister  of  finance  will  give  us  no  satisfaction.  And  I 
am  not  used  to  dealing  with  understrappers." 

"You  are  impertinent!"  cried  the  young  man. 
"I  have  been  as  courteous  as  possible.  You  will 
leave  at  once,  or  I  shall  ask  the  hotel  management 
to  put  you  out." 

Up  from  a  chair  rose  the  massive  bulk  of  Johnny 
Kent,  and  his  ample  countenance  was  truculent  as 
he  roared: 

"You'll  throw  us  out,  you  impudent  son  of  a  sea- 
cook?  No,  Cap'n  Mike,  I  won't  shut  up.  I  ain't 
built  that  way.  Diplomacy  be  doggoned.  I'm  li 
able  to  lose  my  temper." 


154       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"'Tis  a  large-sized  temper  to  lose,  and  I  hereby 
hoist  storm-signals,"  said  O'Shea  with  a  grin  as  he 
neatly  tripped  the  minister  of  finance,  who  was  en 
deavoring  to  reach  an  electric  push-button. 

The  fervid  declamation  of  Johnny  Kent  must 
have  echoed  through  the  apartments.  It  sufficed  to 
attract  the  notice  of  an  erect,  elderly  gentleman  in 
another  room  who  opened  a  door  and  stared  curiously 
at  the  strenuous  tableau.  At  sight  of  the  kindly, 
refined  face  with  the  snowy  mustache  and  imperial, 
O'Shea  gleefully  shouted: 

"The  king,  God  bless  him!  So  this  bright  young 
minister  of  finance  was  a  liar  as  well  as  a  thief!" 

Comically  abashed,  Johnny  Kent  mumbled  an 
apology  for  making  such  an  uproar,  at  which  the 
elderly  gentleman  bowed  acknowledgment  and  said 
to  the  perturbed  and  rumpled  Strothers: 

"My  dear  baron,  will  you  be  good  enough  to 
explain?" 

"These  ruffians  insisted  on  seeing  you,  Your  Maj 
esty,  and  when  I  tried  to  discover  their  business 
they  called  me  names  and  assaulted  me,"  sputtered 
the  young  man  in  a  heat  of  virtuous  indigna 
tion. 

" He  was  afraid  of  the  truth,"  cried  O'Shea.  "  We 
came  to  tell  Your  Majesty  that  he  has  cooked  up  a 
job  to  cheat  ye  out  of  six  thousand  pounds,  and  we 
can  prove  it  up  to  the  hilt.  We  caught  him  with 
the  goods." 

"That  sounds  a  whole  lot  better  to  me  than  di 
plomacy,"  approvingly  exclaimed  Johnny  Kent. 

Bewildered  by  the  vehemence  of  these  outspoken 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  155 

visitors,  King  Osmond  I  of  Trinadaro  turned  to  the 
sullen  minister  of  finance  and  inquired,  still  with 
his  placid  kindliness  of  manner: 

"These  men  do  not  look  like  ruffians,  my  dear 
baron.  What  are  their  names,  and  who  are  they? 
And  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  grave  charge  they 
bring  against  your  integrity?" 

"I  am  O'Shea,  shipmaster,  hailing  from  the  port 
of  New  York,"  spoke  up  the  one. 

"I  am  Johnny  Kent,  chief  engineer  to  Captain 
Mike  O'Shea,"  said  the  other,  "and  I  hail  from  the 
State  o'  Maine.  And  we  can  show  you  our  papers. 
We  didn't  lose  'em  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay." 

Strothers  stood  biting  his  nails  and  shifting  from 
one  foot  to  the  other,  for  once  stripped  of  his  adroit, 
plausible  demeanor,  nor  could  he  find,  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment,  the  right  word  to  say.  The  royal 
personage  said  it  for  him. 

"I  think  you  had  better  retire.  I  wish  to  hear 
what  Captain  O'Shea  and  Mr.  Kent  may  have  to 
tell  me." 

The  amiable  monarch  was  unconsciously  swayed 
by  the  virile  personality  of  Captain  O'Shea,  who 
dominated  the  scene  as  though  he  were  on  the  deck 
of  his  own  ship. 

Baron  Frederick  Martin  Strothers  made  a  last 
attempt  to  protest,  but  Johnny  Kent  glared  at  him 
so  wickedly  and  O'Shea  moved  a  step  nearer  with 
so  icy  a  glint  in  his  gray  eye  that  there  was  a  mo 
ment  later  a  vanished  minister  of  finance. 

The  etiquette  of  courts  troubled  O'Shea  not  in 


156       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

the  least  as  he  cheerily  yet  respectfully  suggested 
to  the  perplexed  elderly  gentleman: 

"Now,  King  Osmond,  if  you  will  please  sit  down 
and  let  us  talk  things  over  with  ye  as  man  to  man, 
we'll  tell  you  how  it  happened." 

The  personage  obediently  did  as  he  was  told,  nor 
could  he  feel  offended  by  the  shipmaster's  boyish 
candor.  O'Shea  chewed  on  his  cigar  and  his  eyes 
twinkled  as  he  glanced  at  the  stubborn  visage  of 
Johnny  Kent,  which  was  still  flushed.  His  Majesty 
began  to  get  his  wits  together  and  to  wonder  why 
he  had  permitted  this  brace  of  total  strangers  to 
take  him  by  storm.  O'Shea  broke  into  his  cogita 
tions  by  explaining: 

"You  are  surprised  that  ye  chucked  the  trusted 
minister  of  finance  out  of  the  room  and  consented 
to  listen  to  us  at  all.  In  the  first  place,  we  are  not 
askin'  anything  of  you.  What  I  mean  is,  we  felt 
bound  to  put  you  next  to  the  dirty  deal  that  was 
framed  up  to  rob  ye." 

"We  saw  you  in  the  Jolly  Mermaid  tavern,  and 
we  liked  your  looks,"  ingenuously  added  Johnny 
Kent.  "We  decided  to  do  you  a  good  turn,  whether 
we  ever  saw  the  color  of  your  money  or  not." 

"And  we  didn't  like  the  cut  of  the  jib  of  your 
minister  of  finance,"  resumed  O'Shea.  "And  we 
were  dead  sure  that  Captain  Handy  was  rotten." 

King  Osmond  earnestly  interrupted: 

"But  I  have  had  all  the  confidence  in  the  world 
in  Baron  Strothers,  and  as  a  British  sailor  of  the 
tarry  breed,  Captain  Handy " 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  157 

"The  two  of  them  are  tarred  with  the  same  brush," 
exclaimed  O'Shea.  "They  fixed  it  up  between  them 
to  pay  twenty-four  thousand  pounds  for  the  Tyne- 
shire  Glen  and  sell  her  to  you  for  thirty  thousand. 
'Tis  a  simple  matter  to  produce  the  evidence.  Send 
a  messenger  to  Tavistock  &  Huntley  hi  Leaden- 
hall  Street.  They  named  the  price  to  Captain 
Handy  and  your  precious  minister  of  finance. 
'Tis  a  clear  case." 

"You  can  buy  her  yourself  from  George  Huntley, 
and  he'll  be  darn  glad  to  get  his  price,"  chimed  in 
Johnny  Kent.  "That  ought  to  prove  it.  But  if 
you'll  listen  to  me,  you'll  have  nothin'  to  do  with 
the  Tyneshire  Glen." 

King  Osmond's  faith  in  human  nature  had  been 
severely  jarred,  but  somehow  he  could  not  doubt 
the  statements  of  these  rugged  men  who  drove 
their  words  home  as  with  a  sledge-hammer.  To 
ward  the  graceless  minister  of  finance  he  felt  more 
sorrow  than  anger  as  he  wove  together  in  his  mind 
this  and  that  circumstance  of  previous  transactions 
which  should  have  made  him  more  vigilant.  But 
the  culprit  was  the  son  of  a  dear  friend,  and  his 
credentials  had  been  impeccable. 

"I  shall  obtain  from  Tavistock  &  Huntley  con 
firmation  of  your  story,  as  you  suggest,"  he  slowly 
replied  to  O'Shea.  "In  the  meantime  I  wish  you 
would  tell  me  about  yourselves." 

"We  are  looking  for  big  risks  and  big  wages," 
said  O'Shea  with  a  smile.  "Johnny  Kent  and  I 
are  better  known  in  the  ports  of  the  Spanish  Main 


158       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

than  in  London  River.  We  have  made  voyages  to 
Hayti  and  Honduras  and  Cuba  without  the  consent 
of  the  lawful  governments,  and  we  know  our  trade." 

King  Osmond  I  reflectively  stroked  his  white  im 
perial,  and  his  face  assumed  an  expression  of  vivid 
interest.  These  men  were  different  from  Captain 
Handy.  They  would  neither  cringe  nor  lie  to  him, 
and  they  looked  him  squarely  between  the  eyes. 

"Will  you  be  good  enough  to  come  into  my  own 
rooms?"  said  he.  "We  shall  find  more  privacy 
and  comfort.  I  should  like  to  hear  of  your  advent 
ures  along  the  Spanish  Main." 

With  a  courteous  gesture  he  showed  them  into  a 
much  larger  and  more  luxurious  room  which  was  used 
as  a  library  or  private  office,  inasmuch  as  a  large 
flat-topped  desk  was  strewn  with  books,  pamphlets, 
and  documents,  and  more  of  them  were  piled  on 
tables  and  on  shelves  against  the  walls.  As  tem 
porary  headquarters  for  royalty  at  work,  the  room 
suggested  industry  and  the  administration  of  large 
affairs. 

So  friendly  and  unconventional  was  the  reception 
granted  them  that  Captain  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent 
were  made  to  feel  that  their  intrusions  demanded 
no  more  apologies.  Their  curiosity  fairly  tormented 
them.  It  was  on  the  tips  of  their  tongues  to  ask 
the  host  what  kind  of  a  kingdom  was  his,  and  where 
it  was  situated,  but  this  would  be  rudeness.  O'Shea 
took  note  of  several  admiralty  charts  on  the  desk, 
two  of  them  unrolled  with  the  corners  pinned  down, 
and  a  rule  and  dividers  for  measuring  distances. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  159 

While  O'Shea  talked,  Johnny  Kent  let  his  eyes 
wander  to  a  small  table  at  his  elbow.  It  was  cov 
ered  with  magazines,  government  reports,  and  news 
paper  clippings.  One  of  the  latter  was  so  placed 
that  he  was  able  to  read  it  from  where  he  sat,  and 
with  absorbed  interest  he  perused  the  following 
paragraphs: 

Colonel  Osmond  George  Sydenham-Leach,  of  the  ancient 
Norfolk  family,  has  lived  on  the  Continent  for  the  last  dozen 
years,  and  is  better  known  to  the  boulevards  of  Paris  than  to 
London.  He  was  never  considered  eccentric  until  recently 
when  his  claim  to  the  island  of  Trinadaro  in  the  South 
Atlantic  as  a  sovereign  realm  aroused  much  interest  and 
amusement.  He  assumed  the  title  of  King  Osmond  I. 

It  is  said  that  he  has  created  an  order  of  nobility,  and  that 
the  insignia  of  the  Grand  Cross  of  Trinadaro  have  been  be 
stowed  upon  the  fortunate  gentlemen  composing  his  cabinet 
an4  coterie  of  advisers.  A  Court  Circular  is  expected  to  ap 
pear  shortly,  and  a  diplomatic  service  will  be  organized. 

Until  His  Majesty  is  ready  to  sail  for  Trinadaro  to  occupy 
his  principality,  the  royal  entourage  will  be  found  in  the 
state  apartments  of  the  Hotel  Carleton.  Elaborate  prepara 
tions  are  in  progress  for  colonizing  the  island  of  Trinadaro, 
and  a  ship-load  of  people  and  material  will  leave  London  in  a 
few  weeks. 

King  Osmond  I  has  a  very  large  fortune.  He  is  unmar 
ried,  and  his  estates,  at  his  death,  will  pass  to  the  children 
of  his  only  brother,  Sir  Wilfred  Sydenham-Leach  of  Hasel- 
ton-on-Trent.  The  kinfolk  of  His  Majesty  are  alarmed,  so 
it  is  reliably  reported,  lest  his  wealth  may  be  squandered 
on  this  curiously  mediaeval  conception  of  setting  up  an 
independent  principality  upon  an  unproductive,  volcanic 
island  in  mid-ocean  which  no  nation  has  taken  the  trouble 
to  annex. 


160       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Slowly  and  carefully  Johnny  Kent  possessed  him 
self  of  this  information  with  never  a  flicker  of  a 
smile.  The  solution  of  the  mystery  of  King  Osmond 
I  impressed  him  as  neither  grotesque  nor  curiously 
mediaeval.  In  all  London  the  King  of  Trinadaro 
could  not  have  found  two  men  of  readier  mind  to 
fall  in  with  his  project  and  pretensions.  To  play 
at  being  a  king  on  a  desert  island,  to  have  the  means 
to  make  it  all  come  true — why,  thought  Johnny 
Kent,  and  he  knew  O'Shea  must  instantly  agree 
with  him,  any  man  worth  his  salt  would  jump  at 
the  chance. 

He  was  anxious  to  pass  the  tidings  on  to  his  com 
rade,  and  when  the  conversation  slackened  he  edged 
in: 

"We  must  be  on  our  way,  Cap'n  Mike.  His 
Majesty  is  good-hearted  to  listen  to  us,  but  it  ain't 
polite  to  talk  his  ear  off." 

With  this  speech  went  so  elaborate  a  wink  that 
O'Shea  comprehended  that  the  engineer  had  some 
thing  up  his  sleeve.  Their  host  cordially  declared 
that  he  must  see  them  again,  and  made  an  appoint 
ment  for  ten  o'clock  of  the  next  forenoon.  They 
took  their  departure  after  friendly  farewells  and 
steered  a  course  for  Blackwall  and  the  tavern  of  the 
Jolly  Mermaid. 

O'Shea  was  as  delighted  as  a  boy  to  learn  that 
Osmond  I  was  about  to  found  an  island  king 
dom.  It  was  a  more  attractive  revelation  than  if 
he  had  been  discovered  to  be  the  inconsequential 
ruler  of  some  effete  little  domain  of  Europe.  And 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  161 

if  one  planned  to  set  himself  up  in  business  as  a 
sovereign,  it  was  proper  to  use  all  the  pomp  and 
trappings  and  ceremony  that  belonged  to  the  game. 

"If  he  is  to  have  a  navy,"  cried  O'Shea  as  he 
pounded  his  friend  on  the  back,  "I  know  where  he 
can  find  an  admiral  and  a  fleet  engineer." 

"Not  so  fast,  Cap'n  Mike.  I  have  a  notion  that 
he'll  have  his  own  troubles  gettin'  to  his  kingdom. 
Any  man  that  can  be  buncoed  as  easy  as  he  was  is 
liable  to  have  all  his  playthings  taken  away  from 
him  before  he  has  a  chance  to  use  'em.  I'll  feel  safer 
about  him  when  he  gets  clear  of  London  River." 

Before  seeking  the  royal  audience  next  morning 
they  went  to  Leadenhall  Street  to  see  George  Hunt- 
ley.  The  ship-broker  greeted  them  indignantly. 

"You  would  try  to  hoodwink  me,  would  you?" 
exclaimed  he.  "I  have  found  out  who  your  mys 
terious  king  is.  I  received  a  letter  from  him  last 
night,  asking  information  about  the  price  of  the 
Tyneshire  Glen.  I  had  no  idea  it  was  this  crazy 
Colonel  Sydenham-Leach  that  calls  himself  ruler  of 
Trinadaro." 

"Own  up  like  a  man,  George,"  shouted  O'Shea. 
"Ye  would  like  nothing  better  than  to  be  this  kind 
of  a  king  yourself." 

"You  have  read  my  thoughts  like  a  wizard.  But, 
confound  you,  you  have  spoiled  the  sale  of  a  steamer 
for  me.  How  about  that?" 

"We  have  tried  to  keep  an  estimable  king  from 
going  to  Davy  Jones's  locker  in  a  floating  coffin  that 
ye  call  the  Tyneshire  Glen"  severely  retorted  O'Shea. 


1 62       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"  Have  ye  any  steamers  that  will  pass  honest  men's 
inspection?" 

"Plenty  of  them,"  promptly  answered  Huntley. 

"Then  we  will  look  at  two  or  three  of  them  to-day, 
after  we  have  paid  our  respects  to  His  Majesty. 
We  will  not  let  him  be  cheated  out  of  his  eye-teeth. 
We  have  decided  to  protect  him.  Isn't  that  so, 
Johnny?" 

"He  needs  us,  Cap'n  Mike." 

Huntley  became  serious  and  took  them  into  the 
rear  office  before  he  confided: 

"I  don't  know,  I'm  sure,  whether  you  chaps  are 
joking  or  not.  However,  here  is  a  bit  of  news  for 
you  on  the  quiet.  I  met  a  friend  of  mine,  a  barrister, 
yesterday.  We  had  luncheon  at  the  Cheshire  Cheese 
and  something  or  other  set  him  to  talking  about  this 
Sydenham-Leach  affair.  It  seems  that  the  lawyers 
are  quite  keen  about  it.  The  family  relations  are 
planning  to  kick  up  a  devil  of  a  row,  to  bring  pro 
ceedings  under  the  lunacy  act,  and  prevent  this 
King  Osmond  from  sailing  off  to  his  silly  island  of 
Trinadaro.  They  hate  to  see  a  fortune  thrown  away 
in  this  mad  enterprise,  as  they  call  it." 

O'Shea  was  righteously  wrathful  as  he  flung 
out: 

"Would  they  interfere  with  a  gentleman  and  his 
diversions?  Hasn't  he  a  right  to  spend  his  money 
as  he  pleases?  Have  ye  ever  seen  him,  George? 
He  is  a  grand  man  to  meet,  and  'tis  proud  we  are 
to  be  his  friends." 

"Oh,  I  imagine  they  will  have  a  job  to  prove  he 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  163 

is  insane,"  said  Huntley.  "But  they  may  make  a 
pot  of  trouble  for  him." 

"I  suppose  they  can  pester  him  with  all  kinds  of 
legal  foolishness  and  haul  him  before  the  courts,  and 
so  on,"  agreed  O'Shea.  "It  would  break  his  heart 
and  spoil  all  his  fun.  'Tis  an  outrageous  shame, 
George.  What  is  the  system  in  this  country  when 
they  want  to  investigate  a  man's  top  story?" 

"I  asked  the  barrister  chap,"  replied  Huntley. 
"The  friends  of  the  person  suspected  of  being  dotty, 
usually  his  near  relatives,  lay  the  case  before  one  of 
the  judges  in  lunacy,  and  he  orders  an  inquiry, 
which  is  held  before  a  master  in  lunacy.  Then  if 
the  alleged  lunatic  demands  a  trial  by  jury  he  gets 
it.  If  he  can't  convince  them  that  he  is  sound  in 
the  thinker,  his  estate  is  put  in  charge  of  a  com 
mittee  duly  appointed  by  law." 

O'Shea  listened  glumly  and  glowered  his  intense 
displeasure.  If  the  law  could  interfere  with  a  man 
who  wished  to  be  king  of  an  island  which  nobody 
else  wanted,  then  the  law  was  all  wrong. 

"And  these  indecent  relatives  who  want  his  money 
will  wait  and  spring  a  surprise  on  him,"  said  the  ag 
grieved  shipmaster.  "They  will  take  his  ship  away 
from  him  and  knock  all  his  beautiful  schemes  into  a 
cocked  hat." 

"I  imagine  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  leave  Eng 
land  if  the  proceedings  were  started,"  said  Huntley. 

Johnny  Kent,  who  had  been  darkly  meditating, 
aroused  himself  to  observe  explosively: 

"We'll  get  him  to  sea  in  his  ship  whenever  he 


1 64       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

wants  to  sail,  and  the  relatives  and  the  judges  and 
the  masters  in  lunacy  be  darned.  It  ain't  the  first 
time  that  you  and  me  have  broken  laws  in  a  good 
cause,  Cap'n  Mike.  You  come  along  with  us, 
George  Huntley.  We're  on  our  way  to  have  a  con 
fab  with  His  Majesty,  and  maybe  you  can  do  some 
business  with  him  right  off  the  reel.  He  ought  to 
load  his  ship  and  head  for  blue  water  as  quick  as 
the  Lord  will  let  him." 


n 

BEHOLD,  then,  the  pair  of  exiled  Yankee  mariners 
stanchly  enlisted  on  the  side  of  King  Osmond  I 
of  Trinadaro,  against  the  designs  of  all  who  would 
thwart  his  gorgeous  and  impracticable  purposes. 
That  his  rank  and  title  were  self-assumed  and  his 
realm  as  yet  unpeopled  impressed  these  ingenuous 
sailormen  as  neither  shadowy  nor  absurd. 

King  Osmond  I  was  an  elderly  gentleman  of  a 
singularly  guileless  disposition,  and  the  notoriety  at 
tending  his  unique  project  had  caused  him  to  be 
surrounded  by  persons  who  knew  precisely  what  they 
wanted.  Of  these  the  vanished  minister  of  finance, 
Baron  Frederick  Martin  Strothers,  of  the  brisk  de 
meanor  and  the  red  waistcoat,  had  been  a  conspicu 
ous  example.  It  was  a  rare  piece  of  good  fortune 
for  the  amiable  monarch  that  there  should  have 
come  to  his  aid  two  such  hard-headed  and  honest 
adventurers  as  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  165 

As  the  result  of  several  interviews  they  were  en 
gaged  to  select  a  steamer  and  to  take  charge  of  her 
for  the  voyage  to  Trinadaro.  Their  qualifications 
were  warmly  indorsed  by  the  well-known  ship- 
broking  firm  of  Tavistock  &  Huntley,  of  Leaden- 
hall  Street.  The  managing  partner,  that  solid  man 
with  the  romantic  temperament,  took  the  keenest 
interest  in  every  detail  of  the  picturesque  enter 
prise.  It  would  have  been  a  temptation  not  easy 
to  resist  if  King  Osmond  had  offered  him  the  place 
of  minister  of  marine,  with  the  bestowal  of  the  in 
signia  of  the  Grand  Cross  of  Trinadaro. 

The  august  personage  was  prodigiously  busy. 
Several  secretaries  and  stenographers  toiled  like 
mad  to  handle  the  vast  amount  of  clerical  work  and 
correspondence.  The  king  planned  to  carry  with 
him  a  sort  of  vanguard  of  subjects,  or  colonists, 
who  were  to  erect  buildings,  set  up  machinery,  till 
the  soil,  prospect  for  mineral  wealth,  and  otherwise 
lay  the  foundations  of  empire.  These  pioneers  were 
largely  recruited  from  his  own  estates  and  villages 
in  Norfolk,  and  formed  a  sturdy  company  of  British 
yeomanry. 

Captain  Michael  O'Shea  was  never  one  to  smother 
his  opinions  from  motives  of  flattery  or  self-interest, 
and  what  information  about  Trinadaro  he  had  been 
able  to  pick  up  on  his  own  account  was  not  dyed  in 
glowing  colors. 

"  I  have  not  seen  the  island  meself ,  Your  Majesty," 
said  he,  "but  the  sailing  directions  set  it  down  as 
mostly  tall  rocks  with  a  difficult  landing-place  and 


1 66       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

a  dense  population  of  hungry  land-crabs  as  big  as 
your  hat.  And  if  it  was  any  good,  would  not  some 
one  of  these  benevolent  Powers  have  gobbled  it  up 
long  ago?" 

King  Osmond  pleasantly  made  answer  to  such 
objections. 

"Several  years  ago  I  made  a  long  voyage  in  a 
sailing-ship  on  account  of  my  health,  Captain  O'Shea, 
and  we  touched  at  Trinadaro  to  get  turtles  and  fresh 
water.  It  was  then  that  I  conceived  the  idea  of 
taking  possession  of  the  island  as  an  independent 
principality.  Although  it  has  a  most  forbidding  as 
pect  from  seaward,  there  is  an  inland  plateau  fit  for 
cultivation  and  settlement.  It  contains  the  ruined 
stone  walls  of  an  ancient  town  founded  by  the  early 
Portuguese  navigators.  And  it  is  well  to  remember," 
concluded  the  monarch  of  Trinadaro  with  a  whim 
sical  smile,  "that  available  domains  are  so  scarce 
that  one  should  not  be  too  particular.  Trinadaro 
appears  to  have  been  overlooked." 

"'Tis  a  rule  that  the  Christian  nations  will  steal 
any  territory  that  is  not  nailed  down,"  was  the  du 
bious  comment  of  O'Shea.  "They  must  have  a  poor 
opinion  of  Trinadaro,  but,  as  ye  say,  'tis  about  the 
only  chance  that  is  left  for  a  king  to  work  at  his 
trade  with  a  brand-new  sign  over  the  door." 

Johnny  Kent  spent  most  his  time  down  river 
among  the  London  docks.  Wherever  sea-going 
steamers  were  for  sale  or  charter  his  bulky  figure 
might  have  been  seen  trudging  from  deck  to  en 
gine-room. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  167 

At  length,  with  the  royal  approval,  O'Shea  had 
the  purchase  papers  made  out  for  the  fine  steamer 
Tarlington,  which  was  berthed  in  a  basin  of  the  East 
India  Docks.  She  was  a  modern,  well-equipped 
freighter  of  four  thousand  tons  which  had  been  in 
the  Australian  trade  and  could  be  fitted  for  sea  at  a 
few  days'  notice.  The  transfer  of  ownership  was 
given  no  needless  publicity.  George  Huntley  at 
tended  to  that.  He  had  another  interview  with  his 
friend,  the  barrister,  who  hinted  at  forthcoming 
events  which  gravely  threatened  the  peace  and  wel 
fare  of  Osmond  I  and  the  kingdom  of  Trinadaro. 

O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  discussed  this  latest  in 
formation  at  supper  in  the  Jolly  Mermaid  tavern 
with  a  platter  of  fried  sole  between  them. 

"'Tis  this  way,"  explained  O'Shea.  "There  is  no 
doubt  at  all  that  this  grand  king  of  ours  will  figure 
in  the  lunacy  proceedings  that  we  heard  was  in  the 
wind.  His  relatives  are  getting  greedier  and  more 
worried  every  day.  And  until  the  matter  is  de 
cided  one  way  or  another  they  will  use  every  means 
the  law  allows  to  head  him  off  from  spending  the 
good  money  that  belongs  to  him." 

"And  how  can  they  stop  him  from  scatterin'  his 
coin  for  these  wise  and  benevolent  purposes  of  his?" 
demanded  the  engineer. 

"Well,  George  Huntley  says  the  law  will  permit 
them  to  clap  some  kind  of  a  restrainin'  order  on  the 
ship  and  hold  her  in  the  dock  with  the  judges'  offi 
cers  aboard  till  the  proceedings  are  over.  And  they 
can  serve  the  same  kind  of  documents  on  King 


1 68       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Osmond  to  prevent  his  chasing  himself  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  court." 

"But  all  this  infernal  shindy  can't  be  started  unless 
there's  proof  positive  that  His  Majesty  intends  to 
fly  the  coop,  Cap'n  Mike." 

"Right  you  are,  Johnny,  you  old  sea-lawyer. 
They  can't  bother  the  king  until  he  is  actually  on 
board  and  the  ship  is  cleared,  so  the  barrister  lad 
tells  George." 

"Then  they'll  be  watchin'  the  Tarlington  like  ter 
riers  at  a  rat-hole,"  exclaimed  the  engineer. 

"No,  they  won't,"  cried  O'Shea  with  tremendous 
earnestness.  "Do  ye  mind  how  we  slipped  out  of 
Charleston  Harbor  in  the  Hercules  steamer,  bound  on 
the  filibusterin'  expedition  to  Honduras?  'Twas  a 
successful  stratagem,  and  it  could  be  done  in  London 
River." 

"Sure  it  could,"  and  Johnny  Kent  chuckled  joy 
ously.  "And  the  king  needn't  know  anything 
about  it." 

"Of  course  we  will  keep  it  from  him  if  we  can," 
agreed  O'Shea.  "I  will  do  anything  short  of  mur 
der  to  keep  him  happy  and  undisturbed.  And  it 
would  upset  him  terribly  to  know  that  he  must  be 
smuggled  out  of  England  to  dodge  the  rascals  that 
would  keep  him  at  home  as  a  suspected  lunatic." 

"We'd  better  put  George  Huntley  next  to  this 
proposition  of  ours,"  suggested  Johnny.  "He  itches 
to  be  a  red-handed  conspirator." 

The  ship-broker  admired  the  scheme  when  it  was 
explained  to  him.  Yes,  the  old  Tyneshire  Glen  which 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  169 

they  had  so  scornfully  declined  to  purchase  was  still 
at  her  moorings,  and  they  were  welcome  to  use  her 
as  a  dummy,  or  decoy,  or  whatever  one  might  choose 
to  call  it.  O'Shea  could  pretend  to  load  her,  he 
could  send  as  many  people  on  board  as  he  liked, 
and  put  a  gang  of  mechanics  at  work  all  over  the 
bally  old  hooker,  said  Huntley.  If  the  enemies  of 
King  Osmond  I  took  it  for  granted  that  the  Tyneshire 
Glen  was  the  ship  selected  to  carry  him  off  to  Trin- 
adaro,  that  was  their  own  lookout.  It  was  a  regu 
lar  Yankee  trick,  by  Jove! 

O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  took  great  care  to  avoid 
being  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Tarlington.  Such 
inspection  and  supervision  as  were  necessary  they 
contrived  to  attend  to  after  dark.  The  king  was 
up  to  his  ears  in  urgent  business  and  was  easily  per 
suaded  to  leave  the  whole  conduct  of  the  ship's  af 
fairs  in  their  capable  hands  and  to  waive  preliminary 
visits  to  the  East  India  Docks. 

O'Shea  employed  a  Scotch  engineer,  who  under 
stood  that  his  wages  depended  on  his  taciturnity,  to 
oversee  such  repair  work  as  the  Tarlington  needed, 
and  to  keep  steam  in  the  donkey-boilers. 

All  signs  indicated  that  the  Tarlington  was  pre 
paring  for  one  of  her  customary  voyages  to  Austra 
lia.  Soon  the  cargo  began  to  stream  into  her  hatches. 
The  ostensible  destinations  of  the  truck-loads  of 
cases  and  crates  and  bales  of  merchandise  were 
Sydney,  Melbourne,  Wellington,  Fremantle,  and  so 
on.  One  might  read  the  names  of  the  consignees 
neatly  stencilled  on  every  package.  This  was  done 


170      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

under  the  eye  of  Captain  O'Shea,  who,  in  his  time, 
had  loaded  hundreds  of  boxes  of  rifles  and  cartridges 
innocently  labelled  "Condensed  Milk,"  "Prime  Vir 
ginia  Hams,"  and  "Farming  Tools." 

But  the  place  to  find  roaring,  ostentatious  activity 
was  on  board  the  old  Tyneshire  Glen.  This  rusty 
steamer  fairly  hummed.  Captain  O'Shea  visited 
her  daily,  and  Johnny  Kent  hustled  an  engine-room 
crew  with  loud  and  bitter  words.  It  appeared  as 
though  the  ship  must  be  in  a  great  hurry  to  go  to 
sea.  While  they  were  stirring  up  as  much  pre 
tended  industry  as  possible,  the  question  of  a  cargo 
was  not  overlooked.  It  was  shoved  on  board  as 
fast  as  the  longshoremen  in  the  holds  could  handle 
it.  Nor  did  these  brawny  toilers  know  that  all  these 
stout  wooden  boxes  so  plainly  marked  and  consigned 
to  Trinadaro  "via  S.S.  Tyneshire  Glen"  contained 
only  bricks,  sand,  stones,  and  scrap-iron. 

They  were  part  of  the  theatrical  properties  of 
Captain  O'Shea,  who  could  readily  produce  a  make- 
believe  cargo  for  a  faked  voyage  in  a  steamer  which 
had  no  intention  of  leaving  port. 

The  London  newspapers  showed  renewed  interest 
in  the  schemes  and  dreams  of  King  Osmond  I  of 
Trinadaro.  The  Tyneshire  Glen  was  visited  by  in 
quisitive  journalists  with  note-books  and  cameras. 
Captain  O'Shea  welcomed  them  right  courteously, 
and  gave  them  information,  cigars,  and  excellent 
whiskey.  They  returned  to  their  several  offices  to 
write  breezy  columns  about  the  preparations  for  the 
singular  voyage  of  the  Tyneshire  Glen.  So  severe 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  171 

are  the  English  libel  laws  that  never  a  hint  was 
printed  of  the  possible  legal  obstacles  which  might 
bring  the  enterprise  to  naught.  For  purposes  of 
publication,  King  Osmond  I  was  as  sane  as  a  trivet 
unless  a  judge  and  jury  should  officially  declare  him 
otherwise. 

Nevertheless,  the  intimation  had  reached  the  news 
paper  offices  that  the  relatives  of  Colonel  Sydenham- 
Leach  were  likely  to  take  steps  to  prevent  him  from 
leaving  England.  And  reporters  were  assigned  to 
watch  the  Tyneshire  Glen  up  to  the  very  moment 
of  departure. 

Now  and  then  Johnny  Kent  quietly  trundled  him 
self  on  board  the  Tarlington,  usually  after  nightfall, 
and  was  gratified  to  find  that  progress  was  running 
smoothly  in  all  departments.  So  nearly  ready  for 
sea  was  the  big  cargo-boat  that  the  time  had  come 
to  devise  the  final  details  of  the  stratagem. 

Accordingly,  Captain  O'Shea  went  boldly  to  the 
custom  house,  and  took  out  clearance  papers  not 
for  the  Tarlington  to  Australia,  but  for  the  Tyneshire 
Glen  to  the  island  of  Trinadaro.  The  chief  officer 
whom  he  had  selected  to  sail  with  him  held  a  mas 
ter's  certificate  and  the  ship  was  cleared  in  his 
name. 

As  for  the  Tarlington,  which  was  really  to  sail 
while  the  Tyneshire  Glen  remained  peacefully  at  her 
moorings  in  the  East  India  Docks,  O'Shea  decided 
to  omit  the  formality  of  clearances.  As  he  ex 
plained  to  Johnny  Kent: 

"The  less  attention  called  to  the  Tarlington  the 


172       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

better.  Once  at  sea  we  will  hoist  the  flag  of  Trina- 
daro  over  our  ship,  and  His  Majesty's  government 
will  give  her  a  registry  and  us  our  certificates.  'Tis 
handy  to  be  an  independent  sovereign  with  a  mer 
chant  marine  of  his  own." 

The  services  of  an  employment  agency  enabled 
O'Shea  to  muster  several  score  bogus  colonists  or 
subjects  of  King  Osmond,  persons  of  respectable  ap 
pearance  who  were  glad  to  earn  ten  shillings  apiece 
by  marching  on  board  the  Tyneshire  Glen  with  bags 
and  bundles  in  their  hands.  There  could  be  no  room 
for  doubt  in  the  public  mind  that  the  eccentric, 
grandiose  Colonel  Sydenham-Leach  was  on  the  point 
of  leaving  his  native  shores  with  his  people  and  ma 
terial  to  found  his  island  principality. 

It  seemed  advisable  to  Captain  O'Shea  to  take 
the  Tarlington  out  of  the  docks  late  in  the  afternoon, 
swing  into  the  river,  and  anchor  until  King  Osmond 
should  be  brought  aboard  hi  a  tug  furnished  by 
George  Huntley.  There  was  much  less  risk  of  ob 
servation  in  having  the  royal  passenger  join  the  ship 
after  nightfall  and  away  from  the  populous  docks, 
in  addition  to  which  O'Shea  preferred  to  get  clear  of 
the  cramping  stone  basins  and  gates  and  hold  his 
ship  in  the  fair-way  with  room  for  a  speedy  departure 
in  the  event  of  a  stern  chase. 

He  artlessly  explained  that  this  arrangement  would 
allow  the  king  to  spend  several  more  hours  ashore 
in  winding  up  the  final  details  of  his  business.  The 
unsuspecting  Osmond  I  approved  these  plans  and 
had  no  idea  that  they  were  part  of  an  elaborate 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  173 

conspiracy  to  smuggle  him  out  of  England  under 
cover  of  darkness. 

As  a  crafty  device  to  throw  the  enemy  off  the  scent, 
O'Shea  conceived  what  he  viewed  as  a  master-stroke. 
George  Huntley  was  called  into  consultation  and 
promptly  sent  for  a  superannuated  clerk  of  his  office 
staff  who  had  been  pensioned  after  many  years  of 
faithful  service.  He  proved  to  be  a  slender,  white- 
haired  man  who  carried  himself  with  a  great  deal  of 
dignity,  and  at  the  first  glimpse  of  him  O'Shea  ex 
claimed  delightedly: 

"You  couldn't  have  done  better,  George,  if  you 
had  raked  London  with  a  comb.  Put  a  snowy 
mustache  and  chin  whisker  on  him  and  he  will 
pass  for  King  Osmond  of  Trinadaro  with  no  trouble 
at  all." 

"I  think  we  can  turn  him  into  a  pretty  fair  coun 
terfeit,"  grinned  Huntley.  "And  when  he  walks 
aboard  the  Tyneshire  Glen  at  dusk  and  all  those 
bogus  subjects  at  ten  shillings  each  raise  a  loyal 
cheer,  the  hoax  will  be  complete.  This  is  the  artis 
tic  touch  to  make  the  job  perfect." 

"And  what  am  I  to  do  after  that,  Mr.  Huntley, 
if  you  please?"  timidly  inquired  the  elderly  clerk. 
"If  it's  only  a  practical  joke,  I  don't  mind " 

"Play  the  part,  Thompson.  Acknowledge  the 
homage  of  the  ship's  company  and  go  below  at  once. 
Dodge  into  a  state-room.  The  ship  will  probably  be 
watched  by  persons  keenly  interested  in  your  move 
ments.  If  they  poke  a  mess  of  legal  documents  at 
you,  accept  them  without  argument.  The  meddle- 


174      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

some  gents  will  leave  you  alone  after  that.  They  will 
merely  keep  close  watch  of  the  ship  to  make  sure  that 
you  don't  run  away  with  her.  When  you  come  back 
to  London  in  the  morning,  pluck  off  the  false  whisk 
ers,  and  be  handsomely  rewarded  for  your  exertions. 
I'll  see  that  you  get  in  no  trouble." 

"It  is  a  bit  queer,  Mr.  Huntley,  but  you  were 
always  a  great  hand  for  a  lark,"  said  the  clerk. 
"Thank  you,  I  will  do  as  you  say." 

The  genuine  colonists  of  King  Osmond  stole  on 
board  the  Tarlington,  singly,  and  by  twos  and  threes, 
some  before  she  pulled  out  of  the  docks,  others  by 
boat  after  she  swung  into  the  stream.  At  the  same 
time  the  imitation  voyagers  from  the  employment 
agency  were  making  as  much  noise  and  bustle  as 
possible  as  they  trooped  on  board  the  Tyneshire 
Glen. 

Captain  O'Shea  intended  to  convey  the  king  from 
the  hotel  to  the  Tarlington,  but  at  the  last  moment 
he  was  detained  to  quell  a  ruction  in  the  forecastle. 
George  Huntley  had  been  unexpectedly  summoned 
to  the  Hotel  Cecil  to  see  an  American  millionaire 
who  was  hi  a  great  hurry  to  charter  a  yacht.  O'Shea 
therefore  sent  a  message  to  His  Majesty  directing 
him  to  have  his  carriage  driven  to  a  certain  landing 
on  the  river-front  of  the  East  India  Docks,  where  he 
would  be  met  by  the  chief  officer  of  the  Tarlington 
and  escorted  aboard  the  ship. 

Within  the  same  hour,  the  dignified,  elderly  clerk 
by  the  name  of  Thompson  might  have  been  seen  to 
enter  a  carriage  close  by  the  Hotel  Carleton,  and 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  175 

those  standing  near  heard  him  tell  the  driver  to  go 
to  the  steamer  Tyneshire  Glen. 

The  chief  officer  of  the  Tarlington,  waiting  near 
an  electric  light  at  the  landing-pier,  abreast  of  which 
the  steamer  was  anchored  in  the  stream,  felt  a  weight 
of  responsibility  for  the  safe  delivery  of  King  Osmond, 
and  was  easier  in  mind  when  he  saw  a  carriage  halt 
within  a  few  yards  of  him.  The  window  framed  the 
kindly  features,  the  white  mustache  and  imperial, 
which  the  chief  officer  instantly  identified.  Hasten 
ing  to  assist  His  Majesty  from  the  carriage,  he  an 
nounced  apologetically: 

"Captain  O'Shea  sends  his  compliments  and  re 
grets  that  he  is  detained  on  board.  The  ship  is 
ready  as  soon  as  you  are." 

The  king  murmured  a  word  or  two  of  thanks. 
The  chief  officer  carefully  assisted  him  to  board  the 
tug,  which  speedily  moved  away  from  the  pier  and 
turned  to  run  alongside  the  Tarlington.  The  impor 
tant  passenger  mounted  the  steamer's  gangway  and 
stood  upon  the  shadowy  deck,  whose  row  of  lights 
had  been  purposely  turned  off  lest  his  figure  might 
be  discernible  from  shore. 

Captain  O'Shea  was  waiting  to  get  the  ship  under 
way.  It  was  no  tune  for  ceremony.  The  business 
of  the  moment  was  to  head  for  the  open  sea,  and 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  British  law  and  its  officers. 
A  few  minutes  later,  Captain  O'Shea  hastened  aft 
to  greet  His  Majesty  and  explain  his  failure  to  wel 
come  him  on  board.  Meeting  the  chief  officer,  he 
halted  to  ask: 


176       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Everything  all  right,  Mr.  Arbuthnot?  Did  he 
ask  for  me?  Did  he  give  you  any  orders?" 

"All  satisfactory,  sir.  The  king  said  he  was  very 
tired  and  would  go  to  his  rooms  at  once." 

"I  wonder  should  I  disturb  him?"  said  O'Shea  to 
himself,  hesitating.  "'Tis  not  etiquette  to  break 
into  his  rest.  Well,  I  will  go  back  to  the  bridge  and 
wait  a  bit.  Maybe  he  will  be  sending  for  me.  My 
place  is  with  the  pilot  till  the  ship  has  poked  her 
way  past  Gravesend  and  is  clear  of  this  muck  of 
up-river  shipping." 

The  Tarlington  found  a  less  crowded  reach  of  the 
Thames  as  she  passed  below  Greenwich  and  her  en 
gines  began  to  shove  her  along  at  a  rapid  gait.  She 
had  almost  picked  up  full  speed  and  was  fairly 
headed  for  blue  water  when  the  noise  of  loud  and 
grievous  protests  arose  from  the  saloon  deck.  The 
commotion  was  so  startling  that  O'Shea  bounded 
down  from  the  bridge  and  was  confronted  by  a 
smooth-shaven,  slender,  elderly  man  who  flourished 
a  false  mustache  and  imperial  in  his  fist  as  he 
indignantly  cried: 

"I  say,  this  is  all  wrong  as  sure  as  my  name  is 
Thompson.  I  never  bargained  with  Mr.  George 
Huntley  to  be  kidnapped  and  taken  to  sea.  I  don't 
want  to  go,  I  tell  you.  These  people  tell  me  that 
this  steamer  is  bound  to  some  island  or  other  thou 
sands  of  miles  from  here.  I  stand  on  my  rights  as 
an  Englishman.  I  demand  that  I  be  taken  back  to 
London  at  once." 

O'Shea  glared  stupidly  at  the  irate  clerk  so  long 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  177 

in  the  employ  of  Tavistock  &  Huntley.  For  once 
the  resourceful  shipmaster  was  utterly  taken  aback. 
He  managed  to  say  in  a  sort  of  quavering  stage 
whisper: 

"For  the  love  of  heaven,  what  has  become  of  the 
real  king?  Who  mislaid  him?  Where  is  he  now?" 

"I  don't  know  and  I'm  sure  I  don't  care,"  bitterly 
returned  the  affrighted  Thompson.  "I  was  an  ass 
to  consent  to  this  make-believe  job." 

"But  how  did  you  two  kings  get  mixed?"  groaned 
O'Shea.  "You're  in  the  wrong  ship.  Have  ye  not 
sense  enough  to  fathom  that  much?  You  were  sup 
posed  to  go  aboard  the  Tyneshire  Glen,  ye  old 
blunderer." 

"The  man  who  drove  the  carriage  told  me  this 
was  the  Tyneshire  Glen.  I  had  to  take  his  word  for 
it.  How  was  I  to  know  one  ship  from  the  other  in 
the  dark?  I  was  told  to  pretend  I  was  the  genuine 
king,  wasn't  I?  So  I  played  the  part  as  well  as  I 
could." 

"Ye  played  it  right  up  to  the  hilt.  My  chief 
officer  will  vouch  for  that,"  and  O'Shea  held  his 
head  between  his  hands.  He  sent  for  Johnny  Kent 
and  briefly  announced: 

"We  are  shy  one  king,  Johnny.  The  deal  has 
been  switched  on  us  somehow.  Our  boss  was  left 
behind." 

"Great  sufferin'  Caesar's  ghost,  Cap'n  Mike!" 
gasped  the  other.  "Say  it  slow.  Spell  it  out. 
Make  signs  if  you're  choked  up  so  that  you  can't 
talk  plain." 


178       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"The  real  king  went  in  the  discard,  Johnny. 
We've  fetched  the  dummy  to  sea.  The  one  that 
came  aboard  was  the  other  one." 

"Then  what  in  blazes  became  of  our  beloved 
King  Osmond  the  First?"  cried  Johnny. 

"You  can  search  me.  Maybe  his  affectionate  rel 
atives  have  their  hooks  in  him  by  now  and  have 
started  him  on  the  road  to  the  brain  college." 

"It  ain't  reasonable  for  us  to  keep  on  our  course 
for  Trinadaro  without  the  boss,"  suggested  the  chief 
engineer.  "This  is  his  ship  and  cargo." 

This  was  so  self-evident  that  Captain  O'Shea 
answered  never  a  word,  but  gave  orders  to  let  go 
an  anchor  and  hold  the  ship  in  the  river  until  fur 
ther  notice.  Then  he  turned  to  glower  at  an  ex 
cited  group  of  passengers  who  had  mustered  at  the 
foot  of  the  bridge  ladder  and  were  loudly  demand 
ing  that  he  come  down  and  talk  to  them.  They 
were  loyal  subjects  of  the  vanished  monarch,  his 
secretaries,  artisans,  foremen,  laborers,  who  ardently 
desired  an  explanation.  They  became  more  and 
more  insistent  and  threatened  to  resort  to  violence 
unless  the  steamer  instantly  returned  to  London  to 
find  King  Osmond. 

O'Shea  gave  them  his  word  that  he  would  not 
proceed  to  sea  without  the  missing  sovereign,  and 
during  a  brief  lull  in  the  excitement  he  thrust  the 
bewildered  Thompson,  the  masquerader,  into  the 
chart-room  and  pelted  him  with  questions.  The 
latter  was  positive  that  he  had  directed  the  cabman 
to  drive  to  the  Tyneshire  Glen.  And  the  fellow  was 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  179 

particular  to  stop  and  ask  his  way  when  just  inside 
the  entrance  to  the  docks.  At  least,  he  had  halted 
his  cab  to  talk  to  some  one  who  was  apparently  giv 
ing  him  information.  Thompson  was  unable  to  over 
hear  the  conversation. 

"And  did  ye  get  a  look  at  this  second  party?" 
sharply  queried  O'Shea. 

"The  carriage  lamp  showed  me  his  face  for  a 
moment,  and  I  saw  him  less  distinctly  as  he  moved 
away.  He  was  a  young  man,  well  dressed,  rather  a 
smart-looking  chap,  I  should  say.  I  think  he  had 
on  a  fancy  red  waistcoat." 

"Sandy  complected?  A  brisk  walker?"  roared 
O'Shea  in  tremendous  tones. 

"I  am  inclined  to  say  the  description  fits  the 
young  man,"  said  Thompson. 

"'Twas  the  crooked  minister  of  finance,  Baron 
Frederick  Martin  Strothers,  bad  luck  to  him!"  and 
O'Shea  looked  blood-thirsty.  "I  will  bet  the  ship 
against  a  cigar  that  he  sold  out  to  the  enemy.  He 
stands  in  with  the  king's  wicked  relatives  and 
schemin'  lawyers.  And  we  never  fooled  him  for  a 
minute.  'Tis  likely  he  switched  the  real  king  to  the 
Tyneshire  Glen,  where  the  poor  monarch  would  have 
no  friends  to  help  him  out  of  a  scrape.  Strothers 
bribed  the  cabmen — that's  how  the  trick  was  turned. 
Just  how  they  got  next  to  our  plans  I  can't  fathom 
at  all." 

"Then  it  is  hopeless  to  try  to  secure  the  king 
and  transfer  him  to  this  steamer?"  asked  Thompr 
son,  easier  in  mind  now  that  he  comprehended  that 
he  had  not  been  purposely  kidnapped. 


i8o      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Hopeless?  By  me  sainted  grandmother,  it  is 
not  hopeless  at  all,"  cried  Captain  O'Shea  as  he 
fled  from  the  chart-room.  Johnny  Kent  had  made 
another  journey  from  the  lower  regions  to  seek  en 
lightenment.  O'Shea  thumped  him  between  the 
shoulders  and  confidently  declaimed: 

"We're  done  with  all  this  childish  play-acting  and 
stratagems.  "Pis  not  our  kind  of  game.  'Twas 
devised  to  spare  the  sensitive  feeling  of  King  Osmond, 
and  this  wide-awake  Strothers  has  made  monkeys 
of  us.  Now  we're  going  to  turn  around  and  steam 
back  to  London  and  grab  this  genuine  king  of  ours 
and  take  him  to  sea  without  any  more  delay  at  all." 

"I  like  your  language,"  beamingly  quoth  Johnny 
Kent.  "We're  about  due  to  have  a  little  violence, 
Cap'n  Mike." 

While  the  good  ship  Tarlington  swings  about  and 
retraces  her  course  there  is  time  to  discover  what 
befell  the  genuine  Osmond  I  after  he  entered  a  car 
riage  at  the  Hotel  Carleton  and  set  out  to  join  Cap 
tain  O'Shea's  steamer. 

He  was  rapidly  driven  to  the  East  India  Docks 
and  the  carriage  drew  up  alongside  the  Tyneshire 
Glen.  The  royal  occupant  had  been  informed  by 
Captain  O'Shea  that  the  ship  would  be  out  of  the 
docks  by  now  and  a  tug  waiting  to  transfer  him. 
In  the  darkness  the  shadowy  outline  of  one  steamer 
looked  very  like  another,  and  King  Osmond  thought 
that  perhaps  the  plan  of  sailing  might  have  been 
changed  at  the  last  moment. 

The  cabman  strenuously  assured  him  that  this 
was  the  Tarlington,  and  he  decided  that  he  had 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  181 

better  go  aboard  and  look  for  Captain  O'Shea.  If 
a  mistake  had  been  made,  it  should  be  an  easy  mat 
ter  to  find  the  landing-pier  and  the  waiting  tug. 

No  sooner  had  the  king  reached  the  deck  than 
he  was  convinced  that  he  had  been  directed  to  the 
wrong  steamer.  The  people  who  stared  at  him  were 
utter  strangers.  There  was  not  a  subject  of  Trina- 
daro  among  them,  nor  did  any  of  the  officers  of  the 
ship  step  forward  to  greet  him.  He  was  about  to 
accost  the  nearest  spectator  when  an  officious  man 
dressed  in  seedy  black  confronted  him,  flourished  a 
formidable-appearing  document  under  the  royal  nose, 
and  pompously  affirmed: 

"A  writ  from  the  judge  duly  appointed  and  author 
ized  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  take  cognizance  of 
such  cases,  distraining  Colonel  Osmond  George 
Sydenham-Leach  from  attempting  to  quit  the  juris 
diction  of  said  court  pending  an  inquisition  de 
lunatico  inquirendo.  Take  it  calm  and  easy,  sir. 
This  won't  interfere  with  your  liberty  as  long  as  you 
obey  the  writ." 

Another  minion  of  the  law,  a  fat  man  with  a  well- 
oiled  voice,  thereupon  formally  took  possession  of 
the  steamer,  explaining  that  because  clearance  papers 
had  been  issued  for  a  voyage  to  Trinadaro,  the  court 
held  that  a  departure  from  England  was  actually  and 
speedily  contemplated.  The  presence  of  Colonel 
Sydenham-Leach  on  board  in  person  was  also  evi 
dence  after  the  fact. 

The  blow  was  staggering,  humiliating,  incredibly 
painful.  It  shook  the  amiable  gentleman's  presence 


1 82       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

of  mind  to  the  very  foundations.  To  be  interfered 
with  as  an  alleged  madman  was  enough  to  bewilder 
the  most  sapient  monarch  that  ever  wielded  sceptre. 
As  a  landed  proprietor,  a  retired  officer  of  the  mili 
tia,  a  Conservative  in  politics,  King  Osmond  had 
profound  respect  for  the  law  and  the  constitution 
of  his  native  land.  He  was  not  one  to  defy  a  judi 
cial  writ  or  to  grapple  with  the  situation  in  a  high 
handed  manner.  In  other  words,  he  was  rather 
Colonel  Sydenham-Leach  in  this  cruel  crisis  than 
the  sovereign  ruler  of  the  independent  principality 
of  Trinadaro. 

No  help  or  comfort  was  to  be  obtained  from  the 
company  around  him.  These  spurious  voyagers 
from  the  employment  agency  were  whispering  un 
easily  among  themselves  and  regarding  the  unfortu 
nate  Osmond  with  suspicious  glances.  They  had 
not  bargained  to  entangle  themselves  in  the  affairs 
of  an  alleged  lunatic  on  board  of  a  ship  which  had 
been  seized  in  the  name  of  the  law.  Ten  shillings 
was  not  enough  for  this  sort  of  thing. 

"It  don't  look  right  to  me,"  said  one  of  them. 
"The  job  is  on  the  queer.  I  say  we  hook  it  before 
the  bloomin'  bobbies  come  and  put  the  lot  of  us  in 
jail." 

This  sentiment  expressed  the  general  view  of  the 
situation,  and  the  counterfeit  subjects  of  Trinadaro 
began  to  flock  down  the  gangway  and  scatter  hi  a 
hunted  manner  among  the  gloomy  warehouses. 
Presently  Colonel  Sydenham-Leach  was  left  alone 
with  the  two  court  officers.  Recovering  somewhat 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  183 

of  his  composure  and  dignity,  he  declared  that  he 
must  consult  with  his  legal  advisers  before  consent 
ing  to  leave  the  ship.  He  clung  to  the  hope  that 
delay  might  enable  Captain  O'Shea  to  come  to  his 
rescue,  although  he  was  unwilling  to  try  to  send  a 
message  to  the  Tarlington.  This  might  reveal  to 
the  officers  of  the  law  that  the  wrong  ship  had  been 
detained,  and  put  them  on  the  track  of  the  right 
one. 

There  was  no  legal  reason  why  the  luckless  king 
should  not  remain  in  the  Tyneshire  Glen  until  his 
lawyers  could  come  and  confer  with  him,  wherefore 
the  captors  grumblingly  sat  themselves  down  in 
the  cabin  to  wait.  The  king  had  nothing  to  say  to 
them.  He  was  absorbed  in  his  own  unhappy  re 
flections.  His  dreams  had  turned  to  ashes.  His  isl 
and  empire  would  know  him  not.  He  felt  very  old 
and  helpless,  and  sad. 

Thus  he  sat  and  brooded  for  some  time.  At 
length  he  heard  the  sound  of  men  tramping  across 
the  deck  above  his  head.  He  roused  himself  to  look 
in  the  direction  of  the  door-way.  A  moment  later 
it  framed  the  well-knit,  active  figure  of  Captain 
Michael  O'Shea.  Behind  him  puffed  stout  Johnny 
Kent. 

"'Twas  a  good  guess,  Your  Majesty,"  cried 
O'Shea.  "We  thought  you  might  have  gone  adrift 
and  fetched  up  aboard  this  old  steamer.  Who  are 
your  two  friends?" 

"Officers  from  the  bench  of  one  of  the  judges  in  lu 
nacy,"  reluctantly  admitted  King  Osmond.  "They 


1 84       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

have  served  distraining  papers  on  me  and  on  my 
ship." 

"On  this  ship?"  exclaimed  Johnny  Kent.  "How 
ridiculous!  What'll  we  do  with  this  pair  of  bailiffs, 
or  whatever  you  call  'em,  Cap'n  Mike?  Make  'em 
eat  their  documents?" 

"No;  we  will  take  the  two  meddlers  along  with 
us,"  sweetly  answered  O'Shea.  "We  can't  afford 
to  leave  them  behind  to  tell  how  it  happened." 

"But  they  have  all  the  power  and  authority  of 
the  British  government  behind  them,"  spoke  up 
King  Osmond. 

"And  they  have  a  long  voyage  ahead  of  them," 
said  O'Shea.  "Your  Majesty  can  give  them  jobs 
in  your  own  judicial  department  and  they  will  grow 
up  with  the  country." 

"I  cannot  countenance  such  actions,"  began  the 
king,  but  Johnny  Kent  interrupted  to  remark  with 
much  vehemence: 

"Excuse  us,  Your  Majesty,  but  this  ain't  no  time 
for  arguments  about  the  British  constitution.  Cap'n 
Mike  and  me  agreed  to  take  you  and  your  ship  to 
Trinadaro.  It  was  a  contract,  and  we  propose  to 
earn  our  wages.  If  you  won't  come  easy  and  willin', 
then  we'll  just  have  to  call  a  couple  of  our  men  from 
the  boat  that's  waiting  alongside  and  escort  you, 
anyhow.  We  ami  to  live  up  to  our  agreements." 

O'Shea  wasted  no  more  words.  Suddenly  grasp 
ing  one  of  the  court  officers  by  the  back  of  the  neck 
and  the  slack  of  his  garments,  he  propelled  him  rap 
idly  toward  the  deck,  fiercely  admonishing  him  to 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  185 

make  no  outcry  unless  he  wished  to  be  tossed  over 
board. 

The  other  man  had  started  to  flee,  but  Johnny 
Kent  caught  him  hi  a  few  heavy  strides,  tucked  him 
under  one  mighty  arm,  clapped  a  hand  over  his 
mouth,  and  waddled  with  his  burden  to  the  nearest 
cargo  port. 

"Drop  them  into  the  boat,"  commanded  O'Shea. 
"Ahoy,  there,  below!  Catch  these  two  lads,  and  let 
them  make  no  noise." 

The  astonished  King  Osmond  had  followed  the 
abductors  out  of  the  cabin.  Before  he  could  renew 
the  discussion  Captain  O'Shea,  breathing  hard,  but 
calm  and  smiling,  faced  him  with  the  courteous 
invitation: 

"After  you,  Your  Majesty.  We  are  at  your  ser 
vice.  A  few  minutes  in  the  boat  and  you  will  be 
aboard  the  Tarlington  and  heading  for  the  open  sea." 

It  was  obviously  so  futile  to  protest  that  the 
king  meekly  descended  to  the  boat,  steadied  by  the 
helping  hand  of  Johnny  Kent.  The  seamen  shoved 
off  and  O'Shea  steered  for  the  long  black  hull  of  the 
steamer  visible  a  few  hundred  yards  down-stream. 
Unable  to  voice  his  confused  emotions,  the  king  suf 
fered  himself  to  be  conducted  up  the  gangway  of 
the  Tarlington. 

His  loyal  subjects,  the  real  ones,  cheered  franti 
cally  at  sight  of  him.  It  was  an  ovation  worthy  of 
his  station.  He  bowed  and  smiled  and  was  himself 
again.  Already  the  recollection  of  his  detention  as 
a  madman  seemed  less  distressing. 


1 86       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

He  felt  the  ship  tremble  under  his  feet  as  her  en 
gines  began  to  drive  her  toward  the  blessed  sea 
and  the  long  road  to  wave-washed  Trinadaro.  Had 
it  not  been  for  the  bold  and  ready  conduct  of  his 
two  faithful  mariners,  he  would  now  be  a  broken- 
spirited  old  man  in  London,  a  butt  of  public  ridi 
cule.  He  went  below  to  the  state-rooms  which  had 
been  suitably  fitted  for  his  comfort  and  privacy,  and 
discovered  that  he  was  greatly  wearied. 

Before  retiring  he  sent  one  of  his  secretaries  to 
request  Captain  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  to  give 
him  the  pleasure  of  their  company  at  breakfast  next 
morning. 

"That  makes  me  feel  a  bit  more  cheerful,"  said 
O'Shea  to  himself.  "Maybe  he  has  decided  to  for 
give  us.  We  were  guilty  of  high  treason,  disobedi 
ence,  and  a  few  other  things,  in  packing  him  off  to 
sea  while  he  was  trying  to  tell  us  he  couldn't  go  at 
all." 

The  Tarlington  was  hi  blue  water  next  morning 
when  the  captain  and  the  chief  engineer  bashfully 
entered  the  private  dining-room  of  His  Majesty. 
The  latter  greeted  them  with  marked  affability,  and 
said: 

"I  take  great  pleasure,  my  dear  friends,  in  con 
ferring  on  you  the  insignia  of  the  Grand  Cross  of 
Trinadaro  as  a  recognition  of  your  invaluable  loyalty 
and  assistance.  You  will  be  entitled  to  call  your 
selves  barons  of  my  realm  by  royal  warrant.  While 
I  must  confess  that  I  could  not  ordinarily  approve 
of  such  summary  methods  as  you  made  use  of " 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  187 

"It  looks  different  now  that  old  England  is  drop 
ping  astern,"  suggested  O'Shea.  "The  British  con 
stitution  doesn't  loom  as  big  as  it  did.  Your  own 
flag  is  at  the  mast-head,  Your  Majesty,  and  you  can 
make  treaties  if  ye  like.  I  thank  you  with  all  my 
heart  for  the  reward  you  have  given  me." 

"It  pleases  me  a  heap  more  to  be  a  member  of  the 
nobility  of  Trinadaro  than  to  earn  big  wages  for  the 
voyage,"  warmly  assented  Johnny  Kent.  "I'll  be 
the  only  life-size  baron  hi  my  neck  of  the  woods 
when  I  settle  down  on  that  farm  in  the  State  o' 
Maine,  eh,  Cap'n  Mike?" 

Freed  of  all  anxieties  and  besetments,  the  royal 
passenger  resumed  his  labor  of  planning  the  occu 
pations  of  his  subjects.  His  enthusiasm  was  de 
lightful  to  behold.  He  seemed  to  grow  younger 
with  every  day  of  the  voyage  southward.  His  was 
to  be  a  kingdom  of  peace  and  good-will,  of  a  benevo 
lent  ruler  and  a  contented,  industrious  people.  He 
was  the  stanchest  kind  of  a  royalist,  and  Trinadaro 
was  to  be  a  constitutional  monarchy  with  an  aris 
tocracy  which  should  be  recruited  after  the  pioneer 
ing  work  had  been  accomplished. 

The  relations  between  the  king  and  his  mariners 
twain  became  those  of  pleasant  intimacy.  They 
came  to  know  him  much  better  during  the  long  weeks 
at  sea,  and  felt  toward  him  an  affectionate,  tolerant 
respect. 

The  ship  had  crossed  the  equator  and  was  plough 
ing  through  the  long  blue  surges  of  the  South  At 
lantic  when  Captain  O'Shea,  after  working  out  the 
noon  observations,  informed  the  king: 


1 88       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"A  couple  of  days  more  and  we'll  begin  to  look 
for  a  sight  of  the  peaks  of  Trinadaro.  If  the  weather 
holds  calm,  we  can  begin  to  put  the  people  and  the 
cargo  ashore  right  after  that." 

"The  peaks  of  Trinadaro!"  fondly  echoed  Osmond 
I.  "  Do  you  know,  Captain  O'Shea,  I  have  wondered 
if  you  considered  me  a  crack-brained  old  fool.  Many 
men  in  England  think  so,  I  am  sure.  I  know  that 
my  relatives  do." 

"  'Tis  my  opinion  that  ye  wish  to  make  folks  happy 
and  that  you  will  do  no  harm  with  your  money," 
was  the  reply.  "And  there's  few  rich  men  that  can 
say  the  same.  No;  'tis  not  crack-brained  to  want 
to  be  a  king.  Power  is  what  men  desire,  and  they 
will  trample  on  others  to  get  it.  I  have  heard  ye 
talk  here  on  board  ship,  and  I  have  admired  w;hat 
you  had  to  say.  You  will  live  your  own  life  in  your 
own  way,  but  ye  will  not  forget  to  make  this  island 
of  yours  a  place  for  men  and  women  to  call  home 
and  to  be  glad  that  they  have  found  it." 

"I  thank  you,  Captain  O'Shea,"  said  the  other. 
"I  cannot  help  thinking  now  and  then  of  what  will 
be  the  fate  of  my  principality  when  death  comes  to 
me.  If  I  am  spared  for  ten  or  fifteen  years  longer, 
I  shall  have  time  to  set  my  affairs  in  order,  to  make 
Trinadaro  self-sustaining,  to  win  the  recognition  of 
foreign  governments,  to  arrange  for  an  administra 
tion  to  succeed  my  reign." 

"May  you  live  to  be  a  king  until  you  are  a  hun 
dred!"  cried  O'Shea.  "And  a  man  who  is  as  happy 
and  contented  as  you  are  is  pretty  sure  of  a  ripe 
old  age." 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  189 

"I  hope  that  you  and  Mr.  Kent  will  consent  to 
sail  under  my  flag  as  long  as  I  live,"  earnestly  said 
the  king.  "I  have  learned  to  depend  on  you,  and 
I  need  not  tell  you  that  the  financial  arrangement 
will  be  more  favorable  than  you  could  make  else 
where." 

"We  have  no  notion  of  quitting  your  service," 
replied  O'Shea,  with  a  smile.  "  'Tis  up  to  us  to  see 
the  kingdom  fairly  under  way  before  we  turn  rovers 
again." 

It  was  early  in  the  morning  of  the  second  day 
after  this  when  the  officer  on  watch  roused  Captain 
O'Shea  with  the  news  that  land  had  been  sighted 
on  the  starboard  bow.  The  master  of  the  Tarlington 
stared  through  his  binoculars  and  saw  a  black,  jagged 
foreland  of  rock  lifting  from  the  sea.  He  sent  word 
to  the  passengers  that  Trinadaro  lay  ahead  of  them. 

King  Osmond  had  left  word  that  he  was  to  be 
called  whenever  the  first  glimpse  of  his  island  should 
be  revealed.  But  he  came  not  to  the  bridge  in  re 
sponse  to  the  message  from  Captain  O'Shea.  In  his 
stead  appeared  his  physician,  with  a  demeanor  ter 
ribly  distressed.  His  voice  was  unsteady  as  he 
said: 

"It  is  my  sad  duty  to  inform  you  that  His  Majesty 
passed  away  some  time  during  the  night.  His  heart 
simply  ceased  to  beat.  It  had  been  somewhat  feeble 
and  irregular  of  late,  but  the  symptoms  were  not 
alarming.  His  strength  was  overtaxed  during  those 
last  weeks  in  London." 

O'Shea  bared  his  head  and  stood  silent.    The  an- 


1 90       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

nouncement  was  very  hard  to  believe.  Pulling  him 
self  together,  he  murmured  to  the  chief  officer: 

"The  king  is  dead.  Please  set  the  flag  of  Trina- 
daro  at  half-mast." 

As  soon  as  the  word  was  passed  down  to  the  engine- 
room  Johnny  Kent  sought  the  bridge  and  his  eyes 
filled  with  tears  as  he  exclaimed: 

"It  don't  seem  right,  Cap'n  Mike.  I  ain't  recon 
ciled  to  it  one  mite.  He  deserved  to  have  what  he 
wanted." 

"Yes,  he  had  slipped  his  cable,  Johnny.  There 
are  cruel  tricks  in  this  game  of  life." 

"What  will  you  do  now?" 

"I  have  had  no  time  to  think.  But  one  thing  is 
certain.  I  will  carry  King  Osmond  to  his  island, 
and  there  we  will  bury  him.  'Tis  the  one  place  in 
all  the  world  where  he  would  want  to  rest.  And 
the  peaks  of  Trinadaro  will  guard  him,  and  the  big 
breakers  will  sing  anthems  for  him,  and  he  will  be 
the  king  there  till  the  Judgment  Day." 

The  Tarlington  slowly  approached  the  precipitous 
coast-line  and  changed  her  course  to  pass  around  to 
the  lee  of  the  island.  As  the  deeply  indented  shore 
opened  to  view,  and  one  bold  headland  after  an 
other  slid  by,  a  comparatively  sheltered  anchorage 
was  disclosed. 

There,  to  the  amazement  of  Captain  O'Shea,  rode 
two  small  cruisers.  One  of  them  flew  the  red  ensign 
of  England,  the  other  the  green  and  yellow  colors  of 
the  navy  of  Brazil.  He  guessed  their  errand  before 
a  British  lieutenant  came  alongside  the  Tarlington 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  191 

in  a  steam-launch  and  climbed  the  gangway  which 
had  been  dropped  to  receive  him. 

Gazing  curiously  at  the  silent  company  and  the 
half-masted  flag  of  Trinadaro,  he  was  conducted  into 
the  saloon,  where  Captain  O'Shea  waited  for  him  to 
state  his  business. 

"This  steamer  belongs  to  Colonel  Sydenham- 
Leach,  I  presume,"  said  the  visitor.  "I  should  like 
to  see  him,  if  you  please.  Sorry,  but  I  have  un 
pleasant  news  for  him." 

"If  it  is  King  Osmond  of  Trinadaro  ye  mean,  he 
is  dead,  God  rest  his  soul!  He  went  out  last  night." 

"You  don't  say!  Please  express  my  sympathy 
to  the  ship's  company,"  exclaimed  the  lieutenant. 
"How  extraordinary!  We  received  orders  by  cable 
at  Rio  to  proceed  to  Trinadaro  in  time  to  intercept 
this  vessel  of  yours." 

"And  what  were  the  orders,  and  why  is  that  Bra 
zilian  man-of-war  anchored  alongside  of  you?"  asked 
O'Shea. 

"It  is  all  about  the  ownership  of  the  island,"  the 
lieutenant  explained.  "Nobody  wanted  it  for  cen 
turies,  and  now  everybody  seems  keen  on  getting 
hold  of  it.  The  English  government  suddenly  de 
cided,  after  you  sailed  from  London,  that  it  might 
need  Trinadaro  as  a  landing-base  for  a  new  cable 
between  South  America  and  Africa,  and  sent  us  to 
hoist  the  flag  over  the  place.  Brazil  heard  of  the 
affair  and  sent  a  ship  to  set  up  a  claim  on  the  basis  of 
an  early  discovery.  The  Portuguese  have  presented 
their  evidence,  I  believe,  because  their  people  made 


1 92       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

some  kind  of  a  settlement  at  Trinadaro  once  upon 
a  time." 

"And  the  forsaken  island  was  totally  forgotten 
until  poor  King  Osmond  got  himself  and  his  proj 
ect  into  the  newspapers,"  slowly  commented  O'Shea. 

"That  is  the  truth  of  the  matter,  I  fancy."  The 
naval  lieutenant  paused,  and  commiseration  was 
strongly  reflected  in  his  manly  face.  "Tell  me," 
said  he,  "what  was  the  opinion  at  home  about  this 
King  of  Trinadaro?  He  was  a  bit  mad,  I  take  it." 

"No  more  than  you  or  me,"  answered  O'Shea. 
"He  had  a  beautiful  dream,  and  it  made  him  very 
happy,  but  it  was  not  his  fate  to  see  it  come  true. 
And  no  doubt  it  is  better  that  he  did  not  live  to 
know  that  the  scheme  was  ruined.  His  island  has 
been  taken  away  from  him.  It  will  be  wrangled  over 
by  England  and  Brazil  and  the  rest  of  them,  and 
there  is  no  room  for  a  king  that  hoped  to  enjoy 
himself  in  his  own  way.  The  world  has  no  place 
for  a  man  like  Colonel  Osmond  George  Sydenham- 
Leach,  my  dear  sir." 

"Too  bad!"  sighed  the  lieutenant.  "And  what 
are  your  plans,  Captain  O'Shea?  Do  you  intend  to 
make  any  formal  claim  in  behalf  of  the  late  king?" 

"No.  His  dreams  died  with  him.  There  is  no 
heir  to  the  throne.  I'm  thankful  that  his  finish 
was  so  bright  and  hopeful.  There  will  be  funeral 
services  and  a  burial  to-morrow.  I  should  take  it  as 
a  great  favor  if  detachments  from  the  British  cruiser 
and  the  Brazilian  war-vessel  could  be  present." 

"I  will  attend  to  it,"  said  the  lieutenant. 


THE  KING  OF  TRINADARO  193 

When  the  coffin  of  King  Osmond  I  was  carried 
ashore  it  was  draped  with  the  flag  of  Trinadaro, 
which  he  himself  had  designed.  Launches  from  the 
two  cruisers  towed  sailing-cutters  filled  with  blue 
jackets,  who  splashed  through  the  surf  and  formed 
in  column  led  by  the  bugles  and  the  muffled  drums. 
The  parade  wound  along  the  narrow  valleys  and 
climbed  to  the  plateau  on  which  the  ruler  had 
planned  to  build  his  capital. 

There  the  first  and  last  King  of  Trinadaro  was  laid 
to  rest,  and  the  guns  of  the  cruisers  thundered  a 
requiem.  The  British  lieutenant  counted  the  guns 
and  turned  to  Captain  O'Shea  to  say: 

"It  is  the  salute  given  only  to  royalty,  according 
to  the  navy  regulations.  It  is  the  least  we  can  do  for 
him." 

"And  it  is  handsomely  done,"  muttered  the  grate 
ful  O'Shea  as  he  brushed  his  hand  across  his  eyes. 

"Will  you  take  your  ship  back  to  England?" 

"Yes.  I  can  do  nothing  else.  'Twill  be  a  sad 
voyage,  but  God  knows  best.  As  it  all  turned  out, 
this  king  of  ours  had  to  die  to  win  his  kingdom." 

When  the  mourners  had  returned  to  the  Tarling- 
ton,  Captain  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  went  into 
the  chart-room  and  talked  together  for  some  tune. 
At  length  the  simple-hearted  chief  engineer  said 
with  a  wistful  smile: 

"  I'm  glad  we  stood  by  and  did  what  we  could  for 
him,  ain't  you,  Cap'n  Mike?" 

"  You  bet  I  am,  Johnny.  He  was  a  good  man,  and 
I  loved  him.  Here's  to  His  Majesty,  King  Osmond 


194       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

of  Trinadaro!  Even  the  pair  of  court  officers  we 
kidnapped  had  come  to  be  fond  of  him  and  wished 
him  no  harm.  There  may  be  trouble  waiting  for  us 
in  London  River  on  account  of  them  and  the  ship 
that  took  out  no  clearances.  But  we  will  face  the 
music.  'Tis  not  much  to  do  for  him  that  was  so 
good  to  us." 

"Right  you  are,  Cap'n  Mike;  but  do  you  suppose 
we'll  go  to  jail?" 

"No;  for  the  blame  will  be  laid  to  poor  King 
Osmond,  and  the  law  will  hold  him  responsible  for 
the  acts  of  his  agents.  But  we  would  not  mind 
going  to  jail  for  him." 

"Well,  anyhow,  they  can  never  take  his  kingdom 
away  from  him,"  softly  quoth  Johnny  Kent. 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN" 

FIFTEEN  years  ago  the  crack  Atlantic  liners  were 
no  larger  than  ten  thousand  tons.  Some  of  them 
are  still  in  service,  safe  and  comfortable  ships,  quite 
fast  enough  for  the  traveller  who  is  not  bitten  with 
speed  madness.  When  the  Alsatian  of  the  Interna 
tional  Line  was  new  she  attracted  as  much  attention 
as  one  of  the  monsters  of  to-day  with  its  length  of 
almost  a  fifth  of  a  mile  and  horse-power  to  stagger 
the  imagination. 

As  she  rode  at  anchor  in  the  Mersey  on  a  certain 
sailing  day  in  March,  spick-and-span  with  fresh 
paint,  brasswork  sparkling  in  the  sunshine,  flags 
snapping  in  the  breeze,  the  Alsatian  was  a  hand 
some  picture  to  greet  the  passengers  who  arrived  in 
the  special  train  from  London  and  were  transferred 
on  board  in  the  paddle-wheel  tender.  There  were 
fewer  than  a  hundred  of  them  in  the  first  cabin,  for 
the  season  of  the  year  was  between  high  tides  of 
travel  east  and  west. 

It  was  a  tradition  of  the  International  Line  that 
its  steamers  should  sail  precisely  on  the  stroke  of 
the  hour  appointed.  More  than  five  minutes'  de 
lay  was  viewed  by  the  port  superintendents  hi  Liver 
pool  and  New  York  as  a  nautical  crime.  Therefore 

195 


196       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

when  noon  came  and  there  was  none  of  the  activity 
of  departure,  the  passengers  were  curious.  A  lo 
quacious  young  man,  of  the  noisy  breed  which  makes 
the  English  say  unkind  things  about  American  tour 
ists,  ordered  another  cocktail  of  the  smoking-room 
steward  and  pettishly  exclaimed: 

"This  right-on-the-minute  business  is  all  a  bluff. 
The  gangway  hasn't  been  hoisted  and  the  tender  is 
still  alongside.  This  ship  is  nowhere  near  ready  to 
start.  Slow  country — slow  people,  these  Britishers. 
We  can  show  'em  a  few  things,  bet  your  life." 

A  nervous,  thin-faced  gentleman  who  had  been 
fidgeting  between  the  deck  and  the  smoking-room 
door  chimed  hi  to  say: 

"Confound  it,  I  hate  to  be  behind  time!  I  can't 
stand  it!  What's  the  matter  with  this  steamer? 
Why  don't  the  officers  tell  us  something?" 

Several  passengers  listened  deferentially  to  this 
jerky  protest.  The  speaker  was  immensely,  no 
toriously  rich,  and,  although  dyspepsia  had  played 
hob  with  his  internal  workings,  and  his  temper  was 
chronically  on  edge,  he  was  an  enviable  personage 
in  the  eyes  of  many  American  citizens.  Whether 
he  toiled  or  loafed,  his  millions  were  working  night 
and  day  to  earn  more  millions  for  him.  It  could 
make  no  essential  difference  under  heaven  at  what 
hour  the  Alsatian  should  carry  him  out  of  Liverpool, 
for  he  could  not  be  happy  anywhere;  but  the  delay 
made  him  acutely  miserable. 

An  old  man  with  kindly,  scrutinizing  eyes  laid 
down  his  cigar  to  comment: 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  197 

"My  dear  sir,  I  crossed  the  ocean  in  a  sailing- 
packet  some  forty-odd  years  ago,  and  we  anchored 
in  the  channel  two  weeks  waiting  for  a  fair  wind, 
and  were  fifty-seven  days  to  Sandy  Hook." 

"Times  have  changed,  thank  God!"  snapped  the 
great  Jenkins  P.  Chase,  of  the  bankrupt  digestion. 

"And  changed  not  altogether  for  the  better  when 
it  comes  to  all  this  fuss  and  clatter  to  get  somewhere 
else  in  a  hurry,  my  friend.  It  is  a  national  disease," 
was  the  smiling,  tolerant  reply. 

Jenkins  P.  Chase  glanced  at  his  watch,  muttered 
something,  and  darted  on  deck  as  if  a  bee  had  stung 
him. 

"Bet  you  the  drinks  he's  gone  to  find  the  captain 
and  blow  him  up,"  admiringly  cried  the  loquacious 
young  man.  "If  Jenkins  P.  Chase  gets  his  dander 
up  he's  liable  to  buy  the  ship  and  the  whole  blamed 
line  and  run  it  to  suit  himself.  He  is  the  original 
live-wire.  Most  wonderful  man  in  the  little  old 
United  States." 

In  a  rather  secluded  corner  of  the  smoking-room 
sat  two  passengers  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
general  conversation.  One  might  have  suspected 
that  all  this  fuss  over  a  belated  sailing  caused  them 
mild  amusement.  The  younger  was  of  a  cast  of 
features  unmistakably  Irish,  with  the  combination 
of  pugnacity  and  humor  so  often  discernible  in  men 
of  that  blood. 

His  companion  was  ruddy  and  big-bodied,  his 
hair  and  mustache  well  frosted  by  time.  Said  the 
latter,  after  due  reflection: 


198       ADVENTURES    OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Hurry  has  killed  a  whole  lot  of  people,  Cap'n 
Mike.  What's  the  matter  with  these  peevish  gents, 
anyhow?  The  company  is  givin'  them  their  board 
and  they're  as  comfortable  as  lords.  I  don't  care 
if  the  steamer  lays  in  port  a  week." 

"That  Jenkins  P.  Chase  is  a  horrible  example, 
Johnny,"  quoth  Captain  Michael  O'Shea.  "'Tis 
his  habit  to  go  flyin'  about,  and  there  is  no  rest  for 
him  anywhere.  If  ye  accumulate  too  much  money, 
you  may  get  that  way  yourself." 

"I  ain't  got  a  symptom,"  said  improvident  old 
Johnny  Kent.  "I've  learned,  for  one  thing,  that 
it's  poor  business  to  try  to  hurry  the  sea.  A  ship 
must  bide  her  time  and  sail  when  she's  ready." 

"But  what  ails  this  one,  I  wonder?"  queried 
Captain  O'Shea.  "I  mistrust  something  is  wrong. 
The  skipper  of  her,  and  a  grand  man  he  is,  with  his 
gold  buttons  and  all,  he  went  below  a  while  ago, 
Johnny,  and  he  has  not  come  back." 

They  strolled  outside,  and  being  seafaring  men 
of  wide  experience,  found  significance  in  trifles  which 
would  have  meant  little  or  nothing  to  a  landsman. 
This  was  no  ordinary  delay.  The  whole  complex  or 
ganization  of  the  liner  was  disturbed. 

"There  is  trouble  amongst  the  crew,"  observed 
O'Shea.  Johnny  Kent  halted  near  an  engine-room 
skylight  and  cocked  his  head  to  listen. 

"The  trouble  is  in  this  department,"  said  he. 

Presently  a  tug-boat  hastily  cast  off  from  the 
nearest  quay  and  churned  her  way  out  to  the  Al 
satian.  A  dozen  Liverpool  policemen  scrambled 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  199 

aboard  the  liner  and  vanished  between-decks.  From 
the  depths  below  the  water-line  arose  a  hubbub  of 
oaths  and  shouts. 

A  few  minutes  later  two  policemen  reappeared 
dragging  between  them  to  the  gangway  a  shock- 
headed,  muscular  fellow  in  blue  dungarees.  Although 
he  made  no  resistance,  they  handled  him  roughly 
and  he  was  expeditiously  handcuffed  to  a  stanchion 
on  the  deck  of  the  tug.  Immediately  thereafter  the 
sounds  of  disturbance  down  below  increased  in 
violence,  and  swarming  up  ladders  and  through 
passageways  came  a  sooty,  greasy  crowd  of  stokers, 
trimmers,  and  coal-passers. 

Scrambling  on  board  the  tug,  and  taking  her  by 
storm,  they  voiced  their  opinions  of  the  Alsatian  and 
the  International  Line  in  language  which  caused  the 
feminine  passengers  to  clap  their  hands  to  their  ears 
and  flee  from  the  rail. 

A  junior  officer  with  whom  Captain  O'Shea  had 
scraped  acquaintance  halted  to  explain,  in  passing: 

"The  blackguards  went  on  strike  for  more  pay 
and  recognition  of  their  union.  The  company 
patched  up  the  trouble  yesterday,  but  the  beggars 
were  stirred  up  again  this  morning  by  the  chap  the 
bobbies  put  the  irons  on.  He  persuaded  them  to 
kick  up  a  rumpus  just  before  sailing-time." 

"If  they  have  signed  articles,  'tis  more  like  a 
mutiny  than  a  strike,"  observed  O'Shea. 

"They  know  that  right  enough,"  said  the  officer, 
"but  they  don't  seem  to  care  whether  they  are 
jugged  for  it  or  not.  It's  an  incident  of  the  general 


200       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

labor  trouble  in  this  port,  I  presume.  The  long 
shoremen's  strike  is  not  settled  yet,  you  know." 

"And  what  will  ye  do  for  a  fire-room  gang?" 
O'Shea  asked  him.  "There  was  near  a  hundred  and 
fifty  of  them  that  quit  just  now." 

"  Hanged  if  I  know,"  sighed  the  officer  as  he  walked 
away. 

The  tug  was  black  with  the  mob  of  strikers,  who 
were  packed  wherever  they  could  find  standing-room. 
The  police  could  do  nothing  with  them,  and  the  dis 
tracted  skipper  of  the  tug  decided  to  make  for  a 
quay  and  get  rid  of  his  riotous  cargo.  The  passen 
gers  of  the  Alsatian  surmised  that  sailing-day  might 
be  indefinitely  postponed  and  they  bombarded  the 
officers  with  excited  demands  for  information.  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent,  philosophers  of  sorts, 
viewed  the  situation  with  good-natured  composure, 
and  were  more  interested  in  the  summons  to  the 
dining-saloon  for  luncheon  than  hi  the  strike  of  the 
fire-room  gang. 

"As  long  as  I  get  three  square  meals  per  day  and 
a  dry  bunk  I  ain't  especially  uneasy  about  any 
thing,"  remarked  Johnny  Kent  as  he  fondly  scanned 
the  elaborate  menu  card. 

"Same  here,"  replied  O'Shea.  "But  that  jumpy 
gentleman,  Jenkins  P.  Chase,  must  be  throwing 
assorted  fits  by  this  time." 

Facing  them  across  the  table  was  a  blond,  spec 
tacled  man  with  a  small,  pointed  beard,  his  appear 
ance  notably  studious  and  precise.  Although  he 
spoke  English  with  cultivated  ease  and  fluency,  the 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  201 

ear  detected  certain  shades  and  intonations  to  in 
dicate  that  he  was  a  German  by  birth.  He  was 
affable  to  his  neighbors  at  table  and  courteous  to 
the  steward  who  waited  on  him.  Garrulous,  sociable 
Johnny  Kent  found  him  companionable,  and  vent 
ured  to  inquire: 

"Your  first  trip  to  America?  Business  or  pleas 
ure?" 

"Both.  I  shall  interest  myself  in  studying  scien 
tific  education  in  the  United  States.  I  am  a  chem 
ist  by  profession,  and  also  a  lecturer  on  the  subject 
before  the  classes  of  a  university.  Yes,  it  is  my 
first  voyage  to  your  wonderful  country.  Tell  me, 
please,  have  you  met  the  famous  Professor  Crit- 
tenden,  of  Baltimore?" 

Johnny  Kent  was  about  to  proclaim  that  as  a 
seafaring  man  he  was  not  in  touch  with  scientists, 
but  O'Shea,  to  prevent  any  such  disclosure,  kicked 
him  on  the  shin  as  a  reminder  that  he  was  to 
eschew  personalities.  It  was  not  discreet  to  adver 
tise  themselves  and  their  affairs  in  the  mixed  com 
pany  of  the  Atlantic  liner.  O'Shea  was  aware  that 
if  Johnny  Kent  should  once  begin  yarning  about  his 
adventures  it  would  be  like  pulling  the  cork  from  an 
overturned  jug. 

The  marine  engineer  blushed  guiltily,  bent  over 
to  rub  his  bruised  shin,  and  briefly  assured  the 
blond  scientist  that  he  had  not  been  lucky  enough 
to  meet  the  distinguished  Professor  Crittenden,  of 
Baltimore. 

"I  was  only  last  night  reading  his  masterly  paper 


202       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

on  '  The  Action  of  Diazobenzene  Sulphonic  Acid  on 
Thymine,  Uracil,  and  Cytosine/  "  politely  returned 
the  other.  "It  is  as  brilliant  as  his  discussion  of 
imidechlorides. " 

Johnny  Kent  threw  up  an  arm  as  if  to  ward  off  a 
blow. 

"If  one  of  those  words  had  hit  me  plumb  and 
square,  it  would  have  jolted  me  out  of  my  chair!" 
he  exclaimed.  "I  could  feel  the  wind  of  'em." 

The  studious  stranger  smiled  and  apologized  for 
talking  shop. 

"Those  strikers — will  the  company  be  able  to 
fill  their  places?"  said  he,  addressing  O'Shea. 

"Perhaps  a  crew  can  be  scraped  up  ashore.  If 
not,  we  will  have  to  shift  to  another  steamer.  Fire 
men  are  an  ugly,  cross-tempered  lot  to  handle,  so 
I  am  told." 

"Have  you  been  much  on  the  ocean?  Do  you 
know  much  about  ships?" 

"I  have  made  a  voyage  or  two  as  a  passenger," 
O'Shea  assured  him.  "'Tis  a  hard  life  in  the  stoke 
hole  of  a  big  steamer,  I  imagine." 

The  scientist  returned  emphatically: 

"I  have  no  sympathy  with  them;  none  whatever. 
Lacking  intelligence,  fitness,  they  must  labor  for 
those  who  have  earned  or  won  the  right  to  rule 
them." 

"  'Tis  your  opinion  that  might  makes  right?  "  spoke 
up  O'Shea. 

"Always,  everywhere!"  declared  the  scientist. 
"The  mind  is  the  man.  The  founders  of  your 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  203 

government  proclaimed  the  fallacy  that  all  men  are 
equal,  but  your  strong  men  know  better,  and  they 
rule  and  exploit  your  masses." 

"It's  the  best  country  God  ever  made,"  cried 
Johnny  Kent  with  some  heat. 

"I  beg  your  pardon";  and  the  chemist  bowed. 
"It  was  a  rudeness  for  me  to  speak  so." 

As  they  left  the  table  he  gave  them  his  card  with 
a  touch  of  formality,  and  they  discovered  that  his 
name  was  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonderholtz. 

Three  hours  later  the  passengers  were  notified  that 
the  Alsatian  would  be  ready  to  sail  next  morning. 
It  was  learned  that  the  company  had  been  able  to 
recruit  an  unexpectedly  large  number  of  unemployed 
firemen  among  the  boarding-houses  and  taverns  of 
the  Liverpool  water-front.  They  were  willing  to 
take  the  places  of  the  strikers,  and  it  was  hoped 
that  the  liner  could  be  sent  to  sea  with  a  fairly 
complete  complement  of  men.  Apparently  the 
strikers  had  been  poorly  advised  and  led,  for  they 
were  beaten  with  no  great  inconvenience  to  the 
management  of  the  company. 

As  soon  as  the  Alsatian  had  lifted  anchor  and  was 
steaming  out  of  the  Mersey  the  passengers  ceased 
grumbling,  and  settled  into  the  comfortable,  somno 
lent  routine  of  a  modern  transatlantic  voyage.  A 
party  of  poker-players  mobilized  in  the  smoking- 
room.  The  ladies  reclined  all  in  a  row  in  their 
steamer-chairs  on  the  lee  side  of  the  deck,  like  so 
many  shawl-wrapped  mummies.  The  spoiled  Ameri 
can  child  whanged  the  life  out  of  the  long-suffering 


204       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

piano  in  the  music-room.  A  few  conscientious  per 
sons  undertook  to  walk  so  many  miles  around  the 
deck  each  day.  There  was  much  random  conver 
sation,  a  spice  of  flirtation,  and  a  vast  deal  of  eating 
and  sleeping.  That  hectoring  gentleman  Jenkins 
P.  Chase  spent  most  of  the  time  in  his  own  rooms, 
where  he  was  ministered  to  by  his  physician,  his 
secretary,  and  his  valet. 

Captain  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  enjoyed  the 
luxury  of  such  a  voyage  as  this.  There  was  no 
responsibility  to  burden  them  on  the  bridge  or  hi 
the  engine-room.  No  one  guessed  that  they  were 
uncommonly  capable  mariners,  accustomed  to  com 
mand.  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonderholtz  seemed 
to  find  their  company  congenial,  and  tried  to  make 
them  talk  about  themselves.  His  curiosity  was 
politely  dissembled,  but  O'Shea  took  note  of  it  and 
built  up  an  elaborate  fiction  to  the  effect  that  he 
was  a  pavement  contractor  in  New  York  with 
friends  at  Tammany  Hall,  while  Johnny  Kent  found 
genuine  satisfaction  hi  posing  as  a  retired  farmer 
from  the  State  of  Maine.  It  occurred  to  O'Shea 
to  remark  to  his  comrade  as  they  were  undressing 
in  their  room  on  the  second  night  at  sea: 

"The  chemical  professor  suspects  we  are  not  what 
we  seem.  And  he  is  anxious  to  fathom  us." 

"Oh,  pooh!  He's  one  of  them  high  and  lofty 
thinkers  that  wouldn't  bother  his  head  about  igno 
rant,  every-day  cusses  like  us,"  sleepily  replied 
Johnny  Kent  as  he  kicked  off  his  shoes. 

"You  fool  yourself,"  and  O'Shea  spoke  with  de- 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  205 

cision.  "He  is  full  of  big  words  and  things  that  I 
do  not  pretend  to  understand  at  all,  but  he  is  not 
wrapped  up  in  them  entirely,  like  most  of  the  pro 
fessors  and  such.  There  is  a  pair  of  keen  eyes  be 
hind  those  gold-rimmed  spectacles  of  his,  Johnny, 
and  he  is  not  missing  anything  that  goes  on." 

"  I  take  notice  that  he  ain't  overlookin'  that  hand 
some  school-teacher  that's  been  studyin'  abroad  for 
a  year.  His  eyes  are  sharp  enough  to  sight  her 
whenever  she  comes  on  deck.  And  she  ain't  hos 
tile  to  him,  either." 

"I  grant  ye  that,  you  sentimental  old  pirate," 
said  O'Shea,  "but  I  am  not  a  match-maker,  and 
'tis  no  concern  of  mine.  What  I  am  wondering 
is  whether  the  man  is  really  a  university  professor 
bent  on  'investigating  the  scientific  education  of  the 
United  States.'" 

"You're  welcome  to  sit  up  and  hatch  mysteries 
by  yourself,"  grumbled  the  other.  "I  want  to  go 
to  sleep.  What's  the  clew  to  all  this,  Cap'n  Mike? 
What  makes  you  so  darned  suspicious?" 

"Tis  no  more  than  a  hunch,  Johnny.  I'm  Irish, 
and  my  people  feel  things  in  the  air.  We  don't  have 
to  be  told.  This  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonder- 
holtz  does  not  ring  true.  There  is  a  flaw  in  him 
somewhere." 

"Well,  we're  sort  of  travellers  in  disguise  ourselves, 
ain't  we,  Cap'n  Mike?  I  feel  plumb  full  of  false  pre 
tences.  The  pot  calls  the  kettle  black.  How  about 
that?" 

"  'Tis  our  own  business,"  snapped  O'Shea. 


206       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"So  is  his,"  briefly  concluded  Johnny  Kent  as  he 
crawled  into  the  bunk.  No  more  than  five  minutes 
later  he  was  snoring  with  the  rhythm  and  volume 
of  a  whistling  buoy  hi  a  swinging  sea.  O'Shea  lay 
awake  for  some  tune,  trying  to  fit  his  uneasy  sur 
mises  together,  or  to  toss  them  aside  as  so  much 
rubbish.  He  had  not  heard  the  banshee  cry,  but 
a  vague  conjecture  had  fastened  itself  in  his  mind 
that  something  was  fated  to  go  wrong  with  this  voy 
age  of  the  Alsatian.  And  without  tangible  cause  or 
reason,  he  found  this  foreboding  interwoven  with 
the  presence  on  board  of  the  affable,  mild-mannered, 
studious  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonderholtz. 

Sailormen  are  notably  superstitious,  and  O'Shea 
had  been  schooled  to  beware  of  cross-eyed  Finns  in 
the  forecastle  and  black  cats  in  the  cabin.  But 
surely  no  tradition  of  the  sea  held  it  an  ill  omen  to 
have  on  board  a  blond  scientist  with  gold-rimmed 
spectacles  and  a  well-cut  beard  who  was  seeking 
information  among  the  technical  schools  and  uni 
versities  of  the  United  States. 

"He  has  it  in  his  head  that  Johnny  Kent  and  I 
are  seafarin'  men  by  trade,  and  he  wants  to  make 
sure  of  it  for  some  reason  of  his  own,"  reflected 
O'Shea.  "It  has  strained  me  imagination  to  lie  to 
him  and  get  away  with  it.  As  for  Johnny,  he  would 
rather  talk  farming  than  anything  else  in  the  world, 
so  he  will  pass  for  a  genuine  hayseed  in  any  com 
pany." 

They  were  deprived  of  the  pleasant  society  of 
Professor  Vonderholtz  next  day,  for  he  boldly  mo- 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  207 

nopolized  the  school-teacher,  Miss  Jenness,  who 
seemed  not  in  the  least  bored  by  his  assiduous  at 
tentions.  Elderly  ladies  watched  them  with  open 
interest,  and  diagnosed  it  as  one  of  those  swift  and 
absorbing  steamship  romances. 

For  three  days  out  of  Liverpool  the  Alsatian 
moved  uneventfully  over  the  face  of  the  waters. 
The  weather  was  bright,  the  sea  smooth.  The 
scratch  crew  of  firemen  toiled  faithfully  in  the  torrid 
caverns  far  below,  and  the  mighty  engines  throbbed 
unceasingly  to  whirl  the  twin  screws  that  pushed 
the  foaming  miles  astern.  On  the  bridge  the  cap 
tain  and  his  officers  went  cheerfully  about  their 
tasks,  thankful  for  clear  skies  and  a  good  day's 
run. 

It  was  after  midnight,  and  the  Alsatian  was  in 
mid-ocean,  when  a  few  of  the  first-cabin  passengers 
heard  what  sounded  to  their  drowsy  ears  like  sev 
eral  pistol  shots.  There  are  many  noises  aboard  a 
steamship  that  are  unfamiliar  to  the  landsman. 
Excepting  Captain  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent,  such 
of  the  passengers  as  had  been  awakened  paid  so 
little  heed  to  the  sounds  that  they  soon  went  to 
sleep  again. 

The  two  seafarers  slumbered  lightly,  as  is  the  habit 
of  men  used  to  turning  out  to  stand  watch.  And 
they  were  not  likely  to  mistake  the  report  of  a  re 
volver  for  any  sound  to  be  expected  in  the  routine 
of  things  on  shipboard.  O'Shea  leaned  over  from 
the  upper  berth  and  asked  in  low  tones: 

"Are  ye  awake,  Johnny?" 


208       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Sure  I  am.    Did  you  hear  the  rumpus?" 

"Yes.  At  first  I  thought  I  was  dreaming  we 
were  aboard  the  old  Fearless  with  Jiminez,  the  big 
black  nigger  from  Venezuela,  taking  pot  shots  at  me. 
What  did  ye  make  of  it?  It  sounded  like  pretty 
lively  gun-play  to  me." 

"It  wasn't  no  ordinary  sailors'  fracas,"  hoarsely 
whispered  Johnny  Kent.  "Several  of  those  shots 
was  fired  for'ard,  and  others  came  from  below, 
about  amidships.  We  heard  'em  through  the  bulk 
heads." 

"And  there  was  some  running  to  and  fro  on  deck," 
said  O'Shea,  "by  men  with  no  shoes  on.  I  heard 
then*  bare  feet  slapping  the  planks  over  me  head." 

"We  haven't  been  boarded  by  pirates,  and,  any 
how,  pirates  are  out  of  date  in  the  Atlantic  trade, 
Cap'n  Mike.  The  ship  hasn't  stopped.  It  would 
have  waked  me  hi  a  jiffy  if  her  engines  had  quit 
poundin'  along,  even  for  a  minute." 

"I  thought  I  heard  yells,  fault  and  far  away,  from 
men  in  trouble,  but  'tis  all  quiet  now,  Johnny." 

"Too  darn  quiet.  The  vessel  has  slowed  down  a 
trifle,  by  six  or  eight  revolutions,  but  she's  joggin' 
along  all  serene.  Shall  we  take  a  turn  on  deck  and 
look  around?" 

They  moved  quietly  into  the  long  passageway 
which  led  to  the  main  saloon  staircase.  Ascending 
this,  they  crossed  the  large  lounging-hall  to  the 
>  nearest  exit  to  the  promenade  deck.  As  was  cus 
tomary,  the  heavy  storm-door  had  been  closed  for 
the  night.  It  was  never  locked  in  good  weather, 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  209 

however,  and  O'Shea  turned  the  brass  knob  to  thrust 
it  open.  The  door  withstood  his  effort,  and  he  put 
his  shoulder  against  it  in  vain. 

"'Tis  fastened  on  the  outside,"  he  muttered  to 
Johnny  Kent.  "We  are  cooped  up,  and  for  what?" 

"Try  the  door  on  the  starboard  side  of  the  hall," 
suggested  the  engineer.  "Maybe  this  one  got 
jammed  accidental." 

They  crossed  the  hall  and  hammered  against  the 
other  door  with  no  better  success.  The  situation 
disturbed  them.  They  gazed  at  each  other  in  silence. 
O'Shea  went  to  one  of  the  bull's-eye  windows  and 
peered  outside.  The  steamer  was  snoring  steadily 
through  the  quiet  sea,  and  he  could  discern  the 
crests  of  the  waves  as  they  broke,  flashed  white, 
and  slid  past.  The  electric  lights  on  deck  had  been 
extinguished,  but  presently  a  figure  passed  rapidly 
and  was  visible  for  an  instant  in  the  shaft  of  light 
from  one  of  the  saloon  passageways.  O'Shea  had 
a  glimpse  of  the  blue  uniform  and  gilt  braid  of  a 
ship's  officer. 

"I  wish  I  could  ask  him  a  question  or  two,"  said 
O'Shea.  "Let  us  try  to  break  out  somewhere  else. 
Now  that  we  seem  to  be  locked  in,  I  am  obstinate 
enough  to  keep  on  trying." 

They  made  a  tour  of  the  halls,  bulkhead  passages, 
and  alleys,  seeking  every  place  of  egress  from  the 
first-class  quarters.  Every  door  had  been  closed 
and  fastened  from  the  other  side.  A  steward  was 
supposed  to  be  on  watch  to  answer  the  electric  bells 
in  the  state-rooms,  but  he  could  not  be  found. 


210       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

There  was  no  one  to  interview,  no  way  of  gaining 
information. 

The  cabin  superstructure  and  partition  walls  were 
of  steel.  The  brass-bound  ports  or  windows  were 
too  small  for  a  grown  man  to  wriggle  through.  The 
passengers  were  as  effectually  confined  within  their 
own  part  of  the  ship  as  if  they  had  been  locked  in 
a  penitentiary.  There  was  no  means  of  communi 
cating  with  the  ship's  officers. 

It  seemed  useless  to  awaken  the  other  passengers 
and  inform  them  of  this  singular  discovery.  There 
would  be  nothing  but  confusion,  futile  argument, 
and  excitement. 

"Maybe  the  skipper  decided  to  lock  us  in  every 
night,"  hopefully  suggested  Johnny  Kent.  "  If  some 
addle-headed  gent  with  a  habit  of  walkin'  in  his 
sleep  should  prance  overboard,  the  company  might 
be  liable  for  heavy  damages." 

"Nonsense!  There  are  strange  doings  aboard  this 
fine,  elegant  steamer,"  sharply  returned  O'Shea. 
"'Tis  too  big  for  me.  We  will  roll  into  our  bunks 
till  morning.  I  will  lose  me  sleep  for  no  man." 

When  Johnny  Kent  awoke  blinking  and  yawning, 
Captain  O'Shea  was  standing  in  front  of  the  open 
port  through  which  the  morning  wind  gushed  cool 
and  sweet.  The  sun  had  lifted  above  the  horizon 
and  the  sea  was  bathed  in  rosy  radiance.  The  aspect 
of  the  sunrise  seemed  to  fascinate  Captain  O'Shea, 
but  his  emotion  was  rather  amazement  than  admira 
tion.  With  a  strong  ejaculation  he  whirled  about  to 
shout  at  his  comrade: 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  211 

"Do  ye  notice  it,  you  sleepy  old  grampus?  Does 
it  look  wrong  to  you?" 

O'Shea  was  dancing  with  excitement  as  he  turned 
again  to  stare  at  the  cloudless  sun  and  smiling  sea. 
Johnny  Kent  thought  to  humor  him  and  amiably 
murmured : 

"She  always  comes  up  in  the  mornin'  regular  as 
a  clock,  Cap'n  Mike,  and  I  guess  she  always  will. 
Ain't  she  on  time,  or  what's  the  matter  with 
her?" 

"The  sun  is  where  it  belongs,"  cried  O'Shea,  "but 
this  ship  is  not.  Her  course  has  been  shifted  during 
the  night.  Man,  we  are  not  on  the  great  circle  course 
to  New  York  at  all.  The  steamer  has  gone  mad. 
We  are  running  due  south  to  fetch  to  the  west'ard  of 
the  Azores." 

"  You  don't  say ! "  exclaimed  the  engineer.  "That 
sounds  perfectly  ridiculous.  I  guess  I'd  better  put 
on  my  breeches  and  take  a  promenade.  I  wonder 
do  we  get  any  breakfast  in  this  crazy  packet?" 

The  first  passenger  encountered  was  Jenkins  P. 
Chase,  whose  morning  task  it  was  to  walk  briskly 
around  the  deck,  by  order  of  his  physician,  before 
the  other  voyagers  were  astir.  His  steward  had 
failed  to  appear  with  the  dry  toast  and  coffee  re 
quired  to  fortify  his  system  for  this  healthful  exer 
cise,  and  he  was  in  a  savage  temper  as  he  sputtered 
at  O'Shea: 

"What  infernal  nonsense  is  this?  I  can't  find  a 
steward  or  an  officer.  The  service  is  rotten,  it's 
positively  damnable.  And  I  can't  go  on  deck. 


212       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Every  door  is  locked.  I'll  make  it  hot  for  the  cap 
tain." 

"'Tis  my  advice  to  sit  tight  and  take  it  easy,  Mr. 
Chase,"  soothingly  returned  O'Shea.  "I  am  afraid 
the  captain  has  troubles  of  his  own  this  morning." 

"What  do  you  mean?  What  do  you  know  about 
it?  Who  the  devil  are  you?  Do  you  think  I  have 
no  influence  with  the  management  of  this  miserable 
steamship  company?" 

"  'Tis  a  long,  wet  walk  from  here  to  the  company's 
offices,"  said  O'Shea  with  an  amused  smile.  "You 
are  a  tremendous  man  ashore,  no  doubt.  I  have 
read  about  ye  in  the  newspapers.  But  unless  I 
guess  wrong,  you  will  take  your  medicine  with  the 
rest  of  us." 

Mr.  Jenkins  P.  Chase  bolted  down  the  staircase 
into  the  spacious  dining-saloon.  For  lack  of  any 
thing  better  to  do,  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  fol 
lowed  him.  The  tables  had  been  set  overnight,  but 
at  this  hour  of  the  morning  stewards  should  have 
been  wiping  down  paint,  cleaning  brasswork,  or 
getting  ready  to  serve  breakfast.  The  room  was 
silent  and  deserted. 

Jenkins  P.  Chase  halted  abruptly  and  his  hands 
went  out  in  a  nervous,  puzzled  gesture.  O'Shea 
brushed  past  him  and  advanced  along  an  aisle  be 
tween  the  tables  to  the  galley  or  kitchen  doors  at 
the  farther  end  of  the  saloon.  These,  too,  were 
locked,  but  he  could  hear  the  rattle  of  pans  and  pots 
and  a  sound  of  voices,  as  if  the  cooks  had  begun  the 
day's  work. 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  213 

"That  is  the  first  cheerful  symptom,"  he  said  to 
himself.  "The  news  will  put  heart  into  Johnny 
Kent,  though  I  wish  there  were  more  indications  of 
circulatin'  the  grub  among  the  passengers." 

The  dictatorial  manner  of  Jenkins  P.  Chase  had 
become  oddly  subdued. 

"You  said  we  must  take  our  medicine?"  he  re 
marked  to  O'Shea.  "For  God's  sake,  what  is  wrong 
with  this  ship?" 

"I  know  very  little,  my  dear  man.  We  were 
locked  in  during  the  night,  clapped  under  hatches, 
as  the  saying  is.  And  the  course  of  the  vessel  was 
altered  to  head  her  for  the  South  Atlantic  instead 
of  the  Newfoundland  Banks." 

"But  nothing  of  the  sort  could  possibly  happen 
on  a  steamer  like  the  Alsatian,"  protested  Mr. 
Chase.  "I  mean  to  say  there  could  be  no  blood- 
and- thunder  business  on  an  Atlantic  liner." 

"A  lot  of  things  have  happened  at  sea  that  were 
perfectly  impossible,"  gravely  spoke  Johnny  Kent. 

As  if  the  mystery  had  communicated  itself  in  some 
subtle,  telepathic  fashion,  the  passengers  began  to 
appear  from  their  state-rooms  at  an  earlier  hour 
than  usual.  Unable  to  go  on  deck,  they  congre 
gated  in  the  halls,  the  library,  and  the  parlor.  Ru 
mor  spread  swiftly  and  intense  uneasiness  pervaded 
the  company.  For  some  inscrutable  reason  they  had 
been  made  prisoners.  This  much  was  evident.  The 
realization  inspired  a  feeling  akin  to  panic.  Angry 
denunciation,  with  not  a  solitary  member  of  the 
ship's  crew  discoverable,  sounded  rather  foolish. 


214       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  men  loudest  in  airing  their  opinions  soon  sub 
sided  and  eyed  one  another  in  a  mood  of  glum  be 
wilderment.  One  or  two  women  laughed  hysteri 
cally. 

Captain  O'Shea  looked  about  to  find  that  friendly 
scientist  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonderholtz,  who 
was  usually  ready  with  a  cordial  morning  greet 
ing.  He  was  not  among  the  assembled  passengers. 
Presumably  he  was  still  in  his  state-room.  A  few 
minutes  after  ttiis  O'Shea  found  occasion  to  stroll 
past  the  professor's  door,  which  stood  open.  The 
room  was  empty. 

Inexplicably,  persistently,  the  personality  of  the 
blond  scientist  had  linked  itself  with  O'Shea's 
strange  sense  of  foreboding.  He  decided  to  inves 
tigate  the  empty  state-room,  for  he  observed  at  once 
that  the  bedding  had  not  been  disarranged  in  either 
berth. 

"Nobody  slept  in  here  last  night,"  said  O'Shea 
to  himself. 

The  room  contained  no  luggage,  and  no  personal 
effects  excepting  several  articles  of  discarded  cloth 
ing.  O'Shea  picked  up  a  coat  and  examined  it  curi 
ously.  The  pockets  were  empty,  but  he  made  an 
interesting  discovery.  The  label  stitched  inside  the 
collar  bore  the  name  of  a  well-known  ready-made 
clothing  firm  of  Broadway,  New  York. 

"And  he  told  us  it  was  his  first  trip  to  our  won 
derful  country,"  was  O'Shea's  comment.  "As  a 
liar  he  has  me  beaten  both  ways  from  the  jack." 

He  resumed  his  careful  investigation  of  the  room, 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  215 

and  was  rewarded  by  discovering  a  pair  of  gold- 
rimmed  spectacles  on  the  floor  beneath  the  lower 
berth,  where  they  must  have  been  purposely  tossed 
aside.  It  was  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the  owner 
had  no  more  use  for  them. 

"The  bird  has  flown,"  soliloquized  O'Shea,  gaz 
ing  hard  at  the  spectacles  and  handling  them  rather 
gingerly,  as  if  they  might  be  bewitched.  "He  couldn't 
fly  overboard.  Anyhow,  he  didn't.  I'll  bet  me  head 
on  that.  And  he  has  not  eloped  with  the  black- 
eyed  school-teacher,  for  I  saw  her  in  the  library  just 
now.  And  where  would  they  elope  to?  He  must 
be  still  in  the  ship." 

In  a  very  thoughtful  mood  he  returned  to  the 
main  staircase,  where  Johnny  Kent  was  hopefully 
peering  in  the  direction  of  the  dining-saloon. 

"There's  something  doin'  down  there,"  announced 
the  engineer.  "The  doors  were  shut  and  bolted 
from  the  inside  a  few  minutes  ago.  Maybe  they'll 
open  again  pretty  soon  and  the  bell  will  ring  for 
grub." 

"Forget  that  awful  appetite  and  listen  to  me," 
exclaimed  O'Shea.  "The  professor  has  vanished 
entirely." 

"Committed  suicide,  you  suppose?  If  he  really 
fell  in  love  with  the  school-teacher,  it's  not  unlikely, 
Cap'n  Mike.  It  takes  'em  that  way  sometimes. 
I've  felt  like  it  myself  once  or  twice." 

"If  he  jumped  overboard,  he  took  his  baggage 
with  him.  And  he  had  a  couple  of  hand-bags  when 
he  came  on  board,  for  I  saw  them.  'Tis  more  likely 


2i6       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

the  divil  flew  away  with  him.  Here's  his  spectacles. 
He  left  them  behind.  I  tell  ye,  Johnny  Kent,  and 
you  may  laugh  at  me  all  ye  like,  for  you  are  a  much 
older  man  than  me,  and  you  ought  to  be  wiser, 
which  you  are  not — that  chemical  gentleman  was 
not  as  mild  and  nice  as  he  made  out.  His  eye  was 
bad.  And  he  has  brought  trouble  to  this  ship. 
Where  is  he  now?  Can  ye  answer  that?  " 

"One  of  those  revolver  bullets  may  have  per 
forated  him  while  he  was  strollin'  on  deck  and 
figurin'  out  some  new  problems  in  chemistry." 

"Your  language  is  a  clean  waste  of  words,"  ad 
monished  O'Shea.  "'Tis  me  rash  intention  to  inter 
view  the  school-teacher,  Miss  Jenness.  She  knows 
more  about  the  professor  than  the  rest  of  us.  This 
is  no  joke  of  a  predicament  we  are  in,  ye  can  take 
my  word  for  it." 

Miss  Jenness  was  to  be  discerned,  at  a  casual 
glance,  as  a  young  woman  with  a  mind  of  her  own. 
The  bold  O'Shea  approached  her  timidly,  his  cour 
age  oozing.  Her  black  eyes  surveyed  him  coldly 
and  critically  and  made  him  feel  as  though  his  feet 
were  several  sizes  too  large. 

"I  beg  pardon,"  he  stammered,  "but  have  ye 
heard  that  the  professor  is  missing?" 

Surprise  and  alarm  drove  the  color  from  her  face. 
Evidently  the  tidings  came  as  a  shock  to  her.  Her 
perturbation  failed  wholly  to  convince  O'Shea  that 
she  could  furnish  no  clew  to  the  mystery.  One  ques 
tion  should  have  leaped  swiftly  to  her  lips.  It  was 
the  one  question  to  ask.  Was  it  supposed  that 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  217 

Professor  Vonderholtz  had  committed  suicide  by 
leaping  overboard?  Captain  O'Shea  waited  for  her 
to  say  something  of  the  sort.  She  sat  pale  and  silent. 
The  dark,  handsome,  matured  young  woman  baffled 
him.  He  felt  that  he  was  no  match  for  her. 

"  'Tis  not  a  case  of  suicide,  Miss  Jenness,"  said  he. 

"Then  what  is  it,  may  I  ask?"  she  replied  in  even 
tones. 

O'Shea  sat  down  beside  her  and  spoke  in  the 
caressing,  blarneying  way  which  he  had  used  to 
advantage  in  his  time. 

"As  the  most  charming  girl  in  the  ship,  'twas 
quite  natural  for  the  professor  to  be  nice  to  you, 
Miss  Jenness.  He  is  a  man  of  taste  and  intelligence. 
Now  'tis  apparent  that  something  most  extraordi 
nary  has  happened  aboard  this  liner.  She  is  being 
navigated  to  parts  unknown,  and  we  are  helpless  to 
prevent  it.  'Tis  a  wholesale  abduction,  as  ye  might 
say.  Professor  Vonderholtz  disappears  at  the  same 
time,  bag  and  baggage,  leaving  his  gold  spectacles 
as  a  souvenir.  What  do  you  know  about  him,  if 
you  please?  Did  he  drop  any  hints  to  you?" 

The  girl  bit  her  lip  and  strove  to  hide  an  agitation 
which  made  her  hands  tremble  so  that  she  locked 
them  in  her  lap. 

"What  should  I  know  about  him?"  she  demanded 
with  a  sudden  blaze  of  anger,  as  if  resenting  the 
questions  as  grossly  impertinent.  "Why  do  you 
come  to  me?  As  a  travelling  acquaintance,  Pro 
fessor  Vonderholtz  did  not  take  me  into  his  confi 
dence.  Are  you  sure  he  is  not  in  the  steamer?" 


218       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"I  am  quite  sure  he  is  still  in  the  steamer,  Miss 
Jenness.  For  my  part,  I  wish  he  was  overboard," 
grimly  answered  O'Shea. 

"Then  why  all  this  commotion  about  him?"  she 
asked. 

"Are  you  sure  he  gave  you  no  impression  that  he 
was  not  a  university  professor  at  all,  but  another 
kind  of  man  entirely?"  stubbornly  pursued  O'Shea. 

"I  did  not  discuss  his  profession.  Chemistry 
does  not  interest  me,"  was  her  icily  dignified  answer. 
"If  you  must  know,  we  talked  about  books  we  had 
read  and  places  we  had  visited.  Professor  Vonder- 
holtz  is  delightfully  cosmopolitan  and  knows  how  to 
make  himself  interesting." 

"I  am  not  making  much  headway  with  you," 
sighed  O'Shea.  "Never  mind.  It  will  astonish  ye, 
no  doubt,  and  you  will  be  very  angry  if  I  make  a 
guess  that  you  and  Professor  Vonderholtz  knew 
each  other  before  you  met  on  the  deck  of  the  Al 
satian.  And  'tis  more  than  a  casual  acquaintance 
that  exists  between  you.  You  are  taken  all  aback  to 
hear  the  news  that  he  cannot  be  found  this  morning. 
I  grant  ye  that,  but  you  know  more  about  him  than 
ye  will  tell  me.  I  have  said  me  say,  Miss  Jenness." 

She  paid  no  heed  to  him,  but  rose  abruptly 
and  walked  in  the  direction  of  her  state-room. 
O'Shea  watched  her  until  she  vanished,  and  then 
he  murmured  with  an  air  of  chagrin: 

"I  may  be  a  pretty  fair  shipmaster,  but  as  a 
detective  ye  can  mark  me  down  as  a  failure.  'Twas 
a  random  shot  about  their  knowing  each  other  ashore, 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  219 

though  I  have  a  notion  it  landed  somewhere  near 
the  bull's-eye." 

Johnny  Kent  was  still  posted  within  strategic  dis 
tance  of  the  dining-saloon  entrance. 

"What  luck,  Cap'n  Mike?"  he  asked. 

"Divil  a  bit." 

"Women  move  in  mysterious  ways.  I  can't 
handle  'em  myself.  Say,  are  we  goin'  to  stay 
cooped  up  in  these  cabins  Like  a  flock  of  sick  chickens? 
I  ain't  reconciled  and  I  don't  intend  to  stand  for  it." 

"No  more  do  I,  Johnny.  As  the  only  two  sea- 
farin'  men  among  all  these  landlubbers,  'tis  up  to 
us  to  twist  the  tail  of  this  situation." 

"It  surely  ain't  right  for  us  to  knuckle  under, 
Cap'n  Mike,  without  putting  up  an  almighty  stiff 
argument.  We've  fought  our  way  out  of  some 
pretty  tight  corners." 

From  the  dining-room  entrance  came  the  noise  of 
the  heavy  bulkhead  doors  sliding  on  their  bearings. 
Johnny  Kent  shouted  joyfully  and  lumbered  down 
the  staircase.  A  moment  later  he  was  bellowing 
to  the  other  passengers: 

"  Grub's  on  the  table.  Come  along  and  help  your 
selves.  The  worst  is  over." 

The  hungry  company  hastened  down  and  jostled 
through  the  doorway  to  the  tables,  upon  which  had 
been  set  dishes  of  oatmeal,  potatoes,  ham  and  eggs, 
and  pots  of  coffee.  The  galley  and  pantry  doors 
were  still  closed.  Not  a  steward  was  visible.  The 
passengers  must  help  themselves.  They  could  eat 
this  simple  fare  or  leave  it  alone. 


220      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  dining-saloon  seemed  empty,  uncanny.  Ex 
cept  for  the  steady  vibration  of  the  engines,  it  was 
as  though  the  ship  had  been  deserted  by  her  crew. 
Such  talk  as  went  on  was  in  low  tones.  There  was 
in  the  air  a  feeling  that  hostile  influences,  unseen, 
unheard,  but  very  menacing,  were  all  around  them. 
They  ate  to  satisfy  hunger,  glancing  often  at  the 
empty  chairs  of  the  commander  and  the  chief  officer 
of  the  Alsatian.  O'Shea  was  more  interested  in  the 
vacant  chair  of  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonder- 
holtz. 

A  few  people  carried  trays  and  plates  of  food  to 
their  rooms,  as  if  to  make  sure  of  the  next  meal. 
Palpitant  uncertainty  and  dread  were  the  emotions 
common  to  all.  And  during  this  tune  the  Alsatian 
was  steaming  over  the  smooth  sea,  her  bow  pointing 
almost  due  south,  her  altered  course  veering  farther 
and  farther  away  from  the  transatlantic  trade  routes 
into  a  region  of  ocean  mostly  frequented  by  sailing- 
vessels  and  wandering  tramp  freighters.  As  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  returned  to  the  upper 
hall  the  latter  said  with  a  great,  resonant  laugh: 

"Breakfast  has  made  a  new  man  of  me.  I  ain't 
worried  a  mite  about  anything.  My  gun  is  in  my 
pants  pocket,  and  I'm  pretty  spry  and  sudden  for 
an  old  codger.  What's  the  orders,  Cap'n  Mike?" 

"There  are  some  good  men  among  the  passengers, 
Johnny,  but  we  will  have  to  show  them  what  to  do. 
'Tis  time  that  the  two  of  us  held  a  council  of  war." 

They  made  a  slow,  painstaking  tour  of  the  first- 
cabin  quarters  and  convinced  themselves  that  every 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  221 

exit  from  the  steel  deck-houses  was  still  securely 
fastened.  Then  they  sought  every  window  port 
which  commanded  a  view  of  the  upper  decks  or 
superstructures  of  the  ship.  They  were  unable  to 
catch  a  glimpse,  from  any  angle,  of  the  canvas- 
screened  bridge  or  to  discover  whether  the  captain 
and  the  navigating  officers  were  on  duty  as  usual. 
Upon  the  forward  part  of  the  ship  they  descried 
several  seamen  at  work.  Down  below  the  rumble 
of  an  ash-hoist  was  heard.  The  essential  business 
of  the  ship  was  going  on  without  interruption. 

"One  trifle  ye  will  note,"  said  O'Shea.  "The 
decks  were  not  washed  down  this  morning." 

"The  vessel  looks  slack,  come  to  look  at  her 
close,"  replied  Johnny  Kent.  "A  gang  of  sailors 
was  paintin'  the  boats  and  awning-stanchions  yes 
terday,  but  they've  knocked  off." 

"  'Tis  curious  how  the  passengers  of  a  big  steamer 
can  be  cut  off  from  what  is  going  on,"  observed 
O'Shea.  "I  never  realized  how  easy  it  was.  And 
there's  no  choppin'  a  way  out  of  these  steel  houses." 

"If  we  do  get  out,  Cap'n  Mike,  what  in  blazes 
are  we  apt  to  run  into?"  the  engineer  exclaimed, 
rumpling  his  mop  of  gray  hair  with  both  hands 
"  Whoever  it  was  that  done  the  fancy  pistol-shootin' 
last  night  ain't  likely  to  hesitate  to  do  it  again. 
And  there's  only  two  of  us  with  guns  unless  a  few 
of  the  passengers  happen  to  have  'em  in  their 
valises." 

"  I  will  be  ashamed  of  myself  and  disgusted  with 
you  if  we  don't  mix  things  up  before  this  time  to- 


222       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

morrow,  ye  fat  old  reprobate,"  severely  spake  Cap 
tain  Michael  O'Shea,  and  the  words  were  weighed 
with  finality.  "The  Lord  gave  us  brains,  didn't 
He?  If  we  let  ourselves  be  run  away  with  aboard 
this  floating  hotel  we  ought  to  beg  admittance  to 
the  nearest  home  for  aged  and  decrepit  seafarin' 
men." 

"It's  a  perfectly  ridiculous  situation  to  be  ketched 
in,  as  I  said  before,  Cap'n  Mike." 


n 

THE  passengers  so  mysteriously  imprisoned  in  the 
first-cabin  quarters  were  soon  to  meet  again  that 
vanished  scientist  and  fellow-voyager  Professor 
Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonderholtz.  Shortly  before  noon 
one  of  the  doors  which  had  blocked  exit  to  the 
promenade-deck  was  opened  from  the  outside.  An 
alert,  blond  man  stepped  upon  the  brass  threshold 
and  stood  gazing  at  the  huddled,  wondering  passen 
gers.  The  expression  of  his  keenly  intelligent  face 
reflected  easy  confidence  and  half-smiling  contempt. 

He  wore  the  blue  uniform  cap  and  blouse  of  a 
ship's  officer,  obviously  purloined  from  the  lawful 
owner,  for  the  insignia  was  that  of  the  International 
Line.  The  gold-rimmed  spectacles  and  the  precise, 
studious  manner  discarded,  it  was  painfully  apparent 
that  he  was  something  very  different  from  a  harm 
less  professor  of  chemistry. 

Behind  him,  and  filling  the  doorway,  stood  four 


THE  LINER  ''ALSATIAN"  223 

other  men  in  the  grimy  garments  of  the  stoke-hole. 
The  smears  of  coal-dust  which  blackened  their  feat 
ures  gave  them  a  forbidding,  sinister  appearance. 
They  were  openly  armed  with  revolvers.  Their 
leader  motioned  them  to  remain  where  they  were. 
He  moved  just  inside  the  hall  and  addressed  the 
passengers  in  his  clean-cut  English  with  its  Teu 
tonic  shades  and  intonations.  The  audience  was 
flatteringly  attentive.  The  sight  of  the  four  grim 
stokers  in  the  background  compelled  absorbed  at 
tention. 

"This  steamer  is  in  my  control,"  crisply  began 
the  singularly  transformed  university  professor.  "  It 
is  useless  for  you  to  wax  indignant,  to  weep,  to  pro 
test.  The  thing  has  been  most  carefully  planned. 
I  will  explain  a  little  in  order  that  you  may  know 
why  it  is  best  for  you  to  do  as  you  are  ordered.  The 
strike  of  those  firemen  in  Liverpool?  It  was  fo 
mented  by  my  agents.  They  caused  the  strike  to 
occur  on  the  day  of  sailing.  It  was  necessary  to 
get  rid  of  that  crew  of  firemen.  In  their  places  were 
shipped  my  own — our  own  men.  The  company  was 
surprised  to  find  a  new  crew  so  easily.  The  stu 
pid  management  suspected  nothing.  Many  months, 
much  money  it  had  taken  to  select  these  men  of 
mine,  to  have  them  all  together  in  Liverpool  pre 
pared  for  the  opportunity." 

The  vanity  of  the  man  showed  itself  in  this  frank 
praise  of  his  own  adroit  and  masterly  leadership. 
His  ego  could  not  help  asserting  itself.  Now  his  easy 
demeanor  stiffened  and  his  face  became  hard  and 


224      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

cold  as  he  went  on  to  say  with  more  vehemence  and 
an  occasional  gesture: 

"Who  are  we?  You  wonder  and  you  are  afraid. 
It  is  the  Communal  Brotherhood,  powerful  and  se 
cret,  which  seizes  this  steamer.  This  is  a  bold  skir 
mish  in  the  war  against  capital,  against  privilege, 
against  the  parasitic  class  which  must  be  utterly 
destroyed.  Labor  is  the  only  wealth;  but  does  labor 
own  the  factories,  the  steamships,  the  land?  No,  it  is 
enslaved.  This  stroke  will  be  talked  about  all  over 
the  world.  Wealth  is  always  cowardly.  It  will 
tremble  and " 

From  the  fringe  of  the  silent  company  rose  the 
shrill,  rasping  accents  of  Jenkins  P.  Chase.  The 
American  multimillionaire  was  fragile,  dyspeptic, 
and  nervous,  a  mere  shred  of  a  man  physically,  but, 
given  sufficient  provocation,  he  had  aggressive  cour 
age  in  abundance.  Nor  had  his  enemies  in  the  world 
of  commerce  and  finance  ever  called  him  a  coward. 
This  situation  exasperated  him  beyond  words. 

"You're  a  fuddle-headed  liar,  you  bragging,  an 
archistic  scoundrel!"  he  cried,  shaking  his  fist  at  the 
speaker.  "  Cut  out  all  that  hot  air  and  balderdash. 
We  can  read  it  in  books.  Get  down  to  business. 
What  do  you  propose  to  do  with  us?  Hold  me  for 
ransom?" 

The  eyes  of  the  bogus  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm 
Vonderholtz  were  unpleasantly  malevolent  as  he 
calmly  answered: 

"  It  is  an  accident  that  you  yourself  are  on  board. 
You  were  not  included  hi  our  plans.  I  do  not  in- 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  225 

tend  to  hold  you  for  ransom.     It  will  be  doing  a 
great  service  to  mankind  if  I  throw  you  into  the 


sea." 


Quite  undaunted,  for  his  blood  was  up,  Jenkins  P. 
Chase  flung  back  at  him: 

"You're  a  lunatic.  I  presume  you  are  after  the 
two  millions  in  gold,  consigned  to  New  York  bankers, 
which  is  in  the  ship's  treasure-room.  You  have  the 
upper  hand?  Why  don't  you  take  the  plunder  and 
leave  us  alone?" 

"We  require  no  advice  from  you,"  and  the  cap 
tor  showed  his  teeth  in  a  mirthless  smile.  "I  wish 
to  inform  the  passengers  that  they  will  be  fed  as 
long  as  they  shall  behave  themselves.  They  also 
have  permission  to  use  a  part  of  the  promenade  deck 
which  will  be  roped  off  and  guarded.  Any  person 
attempting  to  reach  other  parts  of  the  ship  will  be 
shot.  It  is  possible  that  you  will  suffer  no  harm. 
What  to  do  with  you  has  not  yet  been  decided." 

That  interested  observer,  Captain  Michael  O'Shea, 
swiftly  whispered  to  Johnny  Kent: 

"Tuck  your  gun  under  the  cushion  of  the  settee 
behind  us.  The  passengers  will  be  searched  for 
arms.  The  professor  knows  his  business." 

The  acute  mind  of  Jenkins  P.  Chase  had  already 
concluded  that  these  two  men  were  ready-witted  and 
unafraid.  He  marked  their  bearing,  and  he  was  im 
pressed  with  the  fact  that  O'Shea  had  been  aware 
of  trouble  aboard  the  ship  before  the  other  passen 
gers  suspected  it.  Inviting  them  into  his  luxurious 
rooms,  he  brusquely  demanded: 


226       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"What's  your  opinion?  Have  you  any  sugges 
tions?" 

"I  am  a  shipmaster  by  trade  and  me  large  friend 
here  has  been  chief  engineer  of  a  good  many  steam 
ers,"  answered  O'Shea.  "We  have  knocked  some 
holes  in  the  laws  of  the  high  seas  ourselves,  but  ye 
can  set  us  down  as  amateurs  alongside  this  ram 
pageous  chemical  professor.  'Tis  the  biggest  thing 
of  the  kind  that  was  ever  pulled  off.  This  Vonder- 
holtz  has  brains  and  nerve.  And  he  is  as  cold 
blooded  as  a  fish.  The  man  is  bad  clear  through. 
And  he  is  crammed  full  of  conceit,  which  is  his  one 
weak  point,  the  flaw  in  his  system." 

"Call  him  all  the  names  you  please,  but  how  does 
that  help  us?"  snapped  Jenkins  P.  Chase. 

"Go  easy,  my  dear  man.  'Twill  do  no  good  to 
hop  about  like  an  agitated  flea.  What  I  am  getting 
at  is  this.  Vonderholtz  is  so  well  pleased  with  his 
plans  that  he  thinks  they  cannot  be  upset.  We 
may  catch  him  off  his  guard." 

"But  what  if  we  do?"  demanded  Mr.  Chase. 
"These  villains  have  captured  the  whole  crew  of  the 
steamer — officers,  sailors,  stewards." 

"'Twas  not  hard  to  take  them  by  surprise  in  the 
night  and  lock  them  in  their  quarters  under  guard, 
sir,"  explained  O'Shea.  "Half  of  them  were  off 
watch  and  asleep,  ye  must  remember.  Vonderholtz 
has  near  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  no  doubt 
every  one  of  them  came  aboard  with  a  gun  in  his 
clothes.  There  are  enough  of  them  to  work  the 
ship  and  to  spare,  and  I  suppose  there  are  navigators 
and  engineers  amongst  them." 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  227 

"I  can  believe  all  that,"  irritably  interrupted 
Jenkins  P.  Chase.  "Now  that  the  damnable  piracy 
has  succeeded,  it  is  easy  enough  to  see  how  a  gang 
with  a  capable  leader  can  take  possession  of  any 
Atlantic  liner.  Do  you  think  these  scoundrels  can 
be  bribed?" 

"  'Tis  not  probable.  Vonderholtz  is  a  fanatic  with 
his  wild  ideas  about  society,  and  he  has  recruited 
men  of  his  own  stamp.  Besides,  they  have  the  two 
millions  hi  gold  in  the  strong-room  to  divide  'for  the 
good  of  humanity." 

"How  will  they  get  away  with  the  gold?  The 
whole  thing  is  preposterous,"  snorted  the  millionaire. 

"I  have  read  in  the  newspapers  that  Mr.  Jenkins 
P.  Chase  once  stole  a  railroad,"  pleasantly  returned 
O'Shea.  "Maybe  you  can  figure  it  out  better  than 
us  two  sailormen  how  Vonderholtz  stole  a  steam 
ship." 

"A  good  hit!  You're  not  so  slow  yourself,"  cried 
the  other,  not  in  the  least  offended. 

"The  steamer  is  steering  into  southern  waters," 
resumed  O'Shea,  "and  'tis  likely  that  it  was  ar 
ranged  beforehand  for  another  vessel  to  meet  her 
and  take  the  treasure  and  the  men  aboard.  What 
will  they  do  with  the  Alsatian  ?  I  misdoubt  they 
will  sink  her  with  all  hands  of  us,  though  Vonder 
holtz  would  lose  no  sleep  over  it,  but  he  will  want 
the  world  to  know  about  his  great  blow  against  the 
capitalists  and  the  parasites  and  the  likes  of  us.  It 
is  a  joke  to  class  Johnny  Kent  and  me  as  enemies 
of  the  poor,  could  ye  look  into  our  pockets." 


228       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"It  certainly  makes  me  swell  up  and  feel  rich  to 
be  lumped  with  the  plutocrats,"  cheerfully  observed 
Johnny  Kent. 

Jenkins  P.  Chase  let  his  small  bright  eyes  rove  for 
a  moment,  and  his  wise,  wizened  features  were  sar 
donically  amused  as  he  said: 

"We're  in  a  floating  lunatic  asylum,  where  my 
money  is  no  good.  God  knows  what  the  crack- 
brained  anarchist  in  command  will  do  with  the  ship. 
He  has  handed  out  a  jolt  to  capital,  all  right.  Of 
course,  if  you  two  men  can  concoct  any  scheme  to 
win,  you're  welcome  to  fill  in  a  blank  check  for  any 
sum  you  like  and  I'll  see  that  it  is  cashed  the  day 
we  land  in  New  York." 

Cap  tarn  O'Shea  clapped  a  strong  hand  on  the  rich 
man's  bony  little  shoulder  and  exclaimed,  as  though 
admonishing  a  foolish  child: 

"Tut,  tut!  'Tis  nonsense  ye  talk.  We  are  all  hi 
the  same  boat,  and  there  are  women  and  children 
amongst  us.  You  must  put  it  out  of  your  head  that 
your  life  has  any  special  gilt-edged  value  out  here 
at  sea.  We  sink  or  swim  together.  And  I  am  not 
anxious  to  chop  off  me  own  existence  to  please  this 
madman  of  a  Professor  Ernst  Wilhelm  Vonder- 
holtz." 

"He  said  something  about  chucking  me  over 
board,"  sighed  Jenkins  P.  Chase. 

"And  he  looked  as  if  he  meant  it,"  amiably  ob 
served  Johnny  Kent. 

With  this,  the  twain  bade  the  millionaire  take 
heart  and  left  him  to  his  unhappy  meditations.  An 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  229 

idea  had  come  to  Johnny  Kent  and  he  wished  to 
thrash  it  over  with  his  comrade  in  the  seclusion  of 
their  own  room.  For  a  long  time  they  argued  it, 
testing  every  detail,  O'Shea  dissuading,  but  convinced 
against  his  will  that  the  thing  should  be  attempted. 
It  was  a  desperate  hazard,  a  forlorn  hope,  and  gray- 
haired,  honest  old  Johnny  Kent  must  stake  his  life. 
Success  meant  the  recapture  of  the  ship,  and  the  en 
gineer  was  obstinately  determined  to  undertake  it. 

"You  will  have  to  go  it  alone,  Johnny,"  said 
O'Shea,  "and  I  cannot  help  if  things  break  wrong 
for  you.  It  will  worry  the  heart  out  of  me  to  let  ye 
do  it." 

"Pshaw,  Cap'n  Mike!  A  battered  old  sot  like 
me  ain't  worth  much  to  anybody.  If  I  slip  up, 
and  they  put  out  my  lights,  I  want  to  ask  one  favor 
of  you.  Shoot  that  blankety-blank  chemical  son 
of  a  sea-cook  for  me,  will  you?  It'll  be  my  last 
wish." 

"I  promise  to  fill  him  full  of  holes,  if  his  gang  pots 
me  next  minute,"  simply  replied  O'Shea,  and  they 
shook  hands  on  it. 

After  dark  that  night  Johnny  Kent  rummaged  in 
his  steamer  trunk  and  fished  out  an  oil-stained  suit 
of  blue  overalls,  his  working  uniform  when  in  active 
service.  From  another  bundle  he  selected  two  pow 
erful  adjustable  wrenches  which  could  be  concealed 
in  his  clothing.  While  he  was  thus  engaged  O'Shea 
squeezed  into  the  room,  affectionately  punched  him 
in  the  ribs,  and  exclaimed: 

"To  look  the  part  ye  must  blacken  your  face  and 


230       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

hands.  We  have  no  coal-dust,  but  there  are  two 
long  drinks  in  that  bottle  of  Scotch  yonder.  Let 
us  hurl  them  into  our  systems,  and  I  will  make  good 
use  of  the  cork." 

"And  burnt-cork  me  same  as  I  used  to  do  when  we 
boys  played  nigger  minstrels,  Cap'n  Mike?  You're 
wiser  than  Daniel  Webster." 

When  the  job  was  finished,  Johnny  Kent  would 
have  passed  anywhere  as  the  grimiest,  most  unrecog 
nizable  stoker  that  ever  handled  slice-bar  or  shovel. 
Peering  into  the  small  mirror,  he  chuckled: 

"I  feel  like  cussin'  myself  from  force  of  habit. 
Well,  I'll  just  sit  here  and  wait  for  you  to  give  me 
the  word." 

"Aye,  aye,  Johnny.  I  will  start  things  moving 
right  away.  This  is  au  revoir.  Good-luck  and  God 
bless  ye!" 

"'Til  we  meet  again,  Cap'n  Mike.  Don't  fret 
about  me." 

Leaving  the  stout-hearted  old  adventurer  to  pore 
over  a  dog-eared  copy  of  the  American  Poultry  Jour 
nal  by  way  of  passing  the  time,  Captain  O'Shea 
returned  to  the  library  and  called  together  a  dozen  of 
the  men  passengers  whom  he  knew  to  be  dependable. 
He  had  already  explained  what  they  were  to  do,  and 
without  attracting  the  notice  of  the  sentries  posted 
at  the  outside  doorways,  they  heaped  in  a  corner  of 
the  library  all  the  combustible  material  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on,  mostly  newspapers  and  maga 
zines.  Several  contributed  empty  cigar  boxes,  an 
other  a  crate  in  which  fruit  had  been  brought  aboard, 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  231 

and  Jenkins  P.  Chase  appeared  with  a  large  bottle 
of  alcohol  used  for  massage. 

The  stuff  was  placed  close  to  the  wooden  book 
shelves,  which,  with  their  contents,  were  likely  to 
blaze  and  smoulder  and  make  a  great  deal  of  smoke. 

While  the  men  were  thus  engaged  Captain  O'Shea 
chanced  to  notice  the  school-teacher,  Miss  Jenness, 
who  halted  while  passing  the  library  door.  She 
moved  nearer,  listened  intently  to  the  talk,  and  then 
turned  away  to  walk  rapidly  in  the  direction  of  the 
starboard  exit  to  the  deck. 

Suspecting  her  purpose,  O'Shea  followed  and  over 
took  her.  Between  her  and  Vonderholtz  some  sort 
of  an  understanding  existed,  some  relation  more  in 
timate  than  she  was  willing  to  reveal.  O'Shea  was 
alert  to  prevent  her  from  spoiling  his  plans.  She 
might  not  intend  to  play  the  part  of  a  spy,  but  her 
behavior  had  been  mysterious  and  she  was  not  to 
be  trusted. 

O'Shea  called  her  name  sharply,  and  the  girl 
paused.  He  moved  to  her  side  and  said  in  low  tones : 

"Are  you  going  on  deck,  Miss  Jenness?  I  advise 
ye  not  to  just  now." 

"Why?    I — I — yes.     I  am  going  on  deck." 

She  was  manifestly  startled,  unable  to  hold  her 
self  in  hand. 

"You  will  give  me  your  word  of  honor  that  ye 
propose  to  hold  no  communication  with  Vonderholtz 
and  to  send  him  no  message?" 

She  hesitated,  at  a  loss  for  words,  and  O'Shea  felt 
certain  that  he  had  guessed  her  motive  aright.  His 


232       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

decision  was  instant  and  ruthless.  Standing  close 
to  her,  he  said: 

"You  will  be  good  enough  to  go  to  your  state 
room  for  the  rest  of  this  night,  Miss  Jenness,  and  ye 
will  go  at  once,  moving  no  nearer  the  sentries  or  the 
deck,  and  making  no  outcry.  'Tis  a  most  impolite 
speech  to  make  to  a  handsome  girl  like  yourself,  but 
I  have  no  time  for  courtesy." 

Miss  Jenness  glanced  aside.  Captain  O'Shea 
stood  between  her  and  the  passage  to  the  deck. 
Then  she  looked  at  him,  and  knew  that  he  meant 
what  he  said.  Her  lips  parted,  her  breath  was  short 
and  quick,  and  she  moved  not  for  a  long  moment. 
It  was  a  clash  of  strong  wills,  but  the  woman  realized 
that  she  was  beaten. 

It  meant  death  to  O'Shea  should  he  be  discovered 
in  the  act  of  setting  fire  to  the  ship,  but  he  was 
fighting  for  more  than  his  own  skin.  The  issue  ap 
pealed  to  him  as  curiously  impersonal.  His  own 
safety  had  become  a  trifling  matter.  He  was  merely 
an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  fate,  an  agent  com 
missioned  to  help  thwart  the  tragic  destiny  that 
overhung  the  vessel  and  her  people.  The  girl  was 
an  episode;  not  so  much  a  personality  as  a  cog  of 
the  mysterious,  evil  mechanism  devised  by  the 
blond  beast  Vonderholtz. 

"I  think  I  will  go  to  my  room,"  said  Miss  Jenness. 

"Thank  you.     'Tis  wiser,"  softly  replied  O'Shea. 

So  fatuously  confident  was  Vonderholtz  that  his 
plans  were  invulnerable  that  he  had  taken  no  pre 
cautions  to  have  the  first-cabin  quarters  patrolled 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  233 

and  inspected  beyond  the  exits.  He  had  herded 
the  passengers  like  a  flock  of  sheep  and  concerned 
himself  no  further  about  them.  They  could  start  no 
uprising  by  themselves,  and  unarmed. 

Captain  O'Shea  felt  confident  that  the  men  in 
possession  of  the  ship  could  get  the  fire  under  con 
trol.  At  any  rate,  it  must  burn  itself  out  within  the 
steel  walls  of  the  deck-house.  State-rooms  and  halls 
might  be  gutted,  but  he  quoted  his  favorite  adage 
that  one  cannot  make  an  omelet  without  breaking 
eggs.  For  his  part,  he  would  rather  burn  and  sink 
the  ship  than  meekly  to  surrender  to  this  mob  of 
pirates. 

Thereupon  he  scratched  a  match  and  touched  off 
the  fire.  Wetted  down  with  alcohol,  the  newspapers 
blazed  up  fiercely  and  the  flames  licked  the  paint 
work  of  shelves  and  panels.  Smoke  drove  into  the 
halls  in  thick  gusts.  The  passengers,  some  of  them 
genuinely  frightened,  shouted  lustily,  and  there  was 
much  confusion. 

O'Shea  was  delighted.  His  conflagration  was  a 
success.  The  sentries  at  the  doorways  and  the  men 
on  deck  ran  in  pell-mell  and  dashed  out  again  to 
find  hose  and  buckets.  They  bawled  orders  to  one 
another  and  were  bewildered  by  the  smoke  which 
billowed  into  the  passages. 

Before  the  hose  lines  had  been  dragged  in  and 
while  the  fire  was  unchecked,  a  bulky  figure  in  blue 
overalls,  his  face  blackened  as  with  coal-dust, 
emerged  from  a  state-room,  peered  cautiously  into 
the  smoke,  and  with  tread  surprisingly  agile  for  his 


234       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

weight  and  years,  ran  straight  toward  the  crowd 
of  men  in  the  large  hall  outside  the  blazing  library. 
The  smoke  effectually  curtained  his  dash  for  the 
deck.  The  doorways  had  been  left  unguarded. 
Those  whom  he  shoved  out  of  his  way  mistook  him 
for  one  of  Vonderholtz's  crew. 

The  stratagem  of  the  fire  enabled  Johnny  Kent 
to  escape  from  the  steel-walled  prison  and  to  run 
the  gauntlet  of  the  guards  on  deck.  At  top  speed 
he  clattered  down  a  ladder  to  the  next  deck  be 
low,  slowed  his  gait,  and  stood  puffing  to  regain  his 
breath,  for  he  was  a  short-winded  hero  and  ample 
of  girth. 

In  the  printed  matter  advertising  the  International 
Line  he  had  discovered  a  plan  of  the  Alsatian,  drawn 
with  much  detail.  He  knew  it  by  heart,  and  was 
confident  that  he  would  not  go  astray  in  the  laby 
rinth  of  her  many  decks  and  bulkhead  passages. 
Moreover,  he  was  a  man  with  a  lively  interest  in 
his  calling,  and  when  the  Alsatian  was  launched  he 
had  studied  the  descriptions  of  her  machinery  and 
the  like  with  a  keen  professional  eye. 

Without  hesitation  he  stepped  nimbly  through  an 
iron  door  amidships  and  entered  a  narrow  alley 
lighted  by  an  electric  bulb.  A  man,  also  clad  in 
the  overalls  of  a  fireman  or  machinist,  brushed  past 
him,  and  said,  without  looking  up: 

"Fire  amount  to  anything?" 

"A  stream  of  water  will  douse  it,"  gruffly  answered 
Johnny  Kent  as  he  emerged  from  the  alley  into  the 
great,  clangorous  open  space  above  the  engine-room. 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  235 

Below  him  ran  iron  ladders  and  platforms,  flight 
after  flight,  past  the  huge,  shining  cylinders,  down  to 
the  toiling  piston-rods  and  the  whirling  crank-shafts. 
Dynamos  purred  and  auxiliary  engines  hummed  in 
shadowy  corners  and  the  pumps  beat  time  to  this 
titanic  anthem. 

Johnny  Kent  wiped  the  dripping  sweat  from  his 
face  and  the  burnt  cork  smeared  itself  in  grotesque 
streaks  and  blotches.  He  had  reasoned  it  out  that 
among  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  sailing  together  for 
the  first  time  he  could  pass  unchallenged  long  enough 
to  serve  his  purpose.  And  now  that  he  had  gained 
the  engine-room  his  very  presence  there  would  safe 
guard  him  against  suspicion.  Men  were  coming  and 
going,  and  several  of  the  fire-room  gang  chatted  with 
the  engineers  on  watch.  It  would  be  easier  to  mingle 
with  them  because  of  this  fraternal  slackness  of  dis 
cipline. 

His  stout  heart  thumping  against  his  ribs,  but  his 
spirit  undaunted,  Johnny  Kent  stepped  from  the 
lowest  ladder  to  the  grating  of  the  engine-room  floor. 
Pulling  the  greasy  black  cap  low  over  his  eyes,  he 
dodged  behind  a  steam-pipe  and  made  for  the  en 
trance  to  the  nearest  fire-room.  Stripped  to  the 
waist  in  the  red  glare,  the  stokers  were  rattling  coal 
into  furnace  doors.  Johnny  Kent  said  never  a  word, 
but  picked  up  a  shovel  and  took  his  station  in  front 
of  a  boiler.  An  officer  of  some  sort  shouted  at  him: 

"Who  sent  you  down?" 

"I  was  ordered  to  shift  my  watch,"  bellowed 
Johnny  Kent. 


236       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Good  enough.  We  are  short-handed,"  was  the 
reply. 

The  heat  and  the  arduous  exertion  made  Johnny 
Kent  grunt,  but  he  had  been  a  mighty  man  with  a 
shovel  in  his  time,  and  he  would  show  these  scoun 
drels  how  to  feed  a  furnace.  He  observed  that  armed 
guards  were  stationed  in  this  compartment,  and  con 
cluded  that  some  of  the  steamer's  regular  crew  had 
been  set  to  work  under  compulsion. 

Thus  far  he  had  made  no  blunders.  There  had 
been  no  flaw  in  his  plans.  His  greatest  fear  was  that 
Vonderholtz  might  come  below  and  recognize  him. 
But  the  conflagration  conducted  by  Captain  O'Shea 
was  likely  to  keep  the  leader  on  deck. 

Painstakingly  Johnny  Kent  sought  to  recall  every 
scrap  of  information  he  had  read  in  technical  jour 
nals  concerning  the  tinder-water  specifications  of  the 
Alsatian.  His  memory  was  tenacious  and  he  be 
lieved  that  he  could  trust  it  now. 

He  had  entered  the  fire-room  in  the  middle  of  a 
watch,  and  therefore  had  not  long  to  serve  as  a  stoker 
before  the  men  were  relieved  and  another  gang  took 
their  places.  When  the  next  watch  came  trooping 
in,  there  was  much  passing  to  and  fro,  and  as  one  of 
the  crowd  Johnny  Kent  felt  much  safer  against  dis 
covery.  He  knew  where  to  find  dark  corners  and 
tortuous  passageways  in  this  complex,  noisy  part 
of  the  ship,  far  below  the  water-line. 

When  the  firemen  of  his  watch  began  to  climb  the 
ladders  to  their  living  quarters,  he  was  not  among 
them.  Two  hours  later,  a  bulky  gray-headed  per- 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  237 

son  in  blue  overalls  might  have  been  seen  crawling 
on  hands  and  knees  or  wriggling  on  his  stomach  in 
the  bilge  of  the  Alsatian's  hull,  beneath  the  floor. 

From  the  state-room  wall  he  had  unscrewed  the 
small  candle  lamp  provided  for  use  when  the  elec 
tric-lighting  system  was  turned  off.  With  this  feeble 
light  he  was  searching  for  the  sea-cocks,  those  mas 
sive  valves  set  into  the  bottom  of  a  steamer's  hull 
for  the  purpose  of  letting  in  the  ocean  and  flooding 
her  in  the  emergency  of  fire  in  the  cargo  holds  and 
coal-bunkers.  A  steamer  is  sometimes  saved  from 
total  destruction  by  beaching  her  in  shoal  water  and 
opening  the  sea-cocks. 

To  open  these  valves  in  the  bottom  of  the  Alsa 
tian  was  to  admit  a  rush  of  water  which  would  soon 
rise  to  the  furnaces  and  engine-room  in  greater  vol 
ume  than  the  steam-pumps  could  hold  in  check.  It 
was  not  Johnny  Kent's  mad  intention  to  sink  the 
liner  in  mid-ocean,  although  this  was  a  possible 
consequence. 

After  prodigious  exertion,  he  found  what  he  sought 
and  bent  his  burly  strength  to  releasing  the  gate- 
valves  constructed  to  withstand  the  pressure  of  the 
sea.  He  heard  the  water  pour  in  with  sobbing  gush 
and  murmur  and  splash  against  the  steel  plates  and 
beams.  With  a  healthy  prejudice  against  being 
drowned  in  a  cataract  of  his  own  devising,  Johnny 
Kent  scrambled  in  retreat  and  regained  the  engine- 
room  compartment,  bruised  and  exhausted. 

Thus  far  he  had  succeeded  because  of  the  sheer 
audacity  of  the  enterprise.  It  was  a  seemingly  im- 


238       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

possible  thing  to  do,  but  the  process  of  reasoning 
which  inspired  it  was  particularly  sane  and  cool- 
headed.  He  had  been  unchallenged  because  it  never 
entered  the  minds  of  his  foes  that  any  one  would  dare 
such  a  stratagem.  They  had  gained  the  upper  hand 
by  means  of  force.  In  a  game  of  wits  they  were 
out-manoeuvred.  Johnny  Kent  showed  the  superior 
intelligence. 

"It  looks  as  if  my  job  as  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den 
was  about  done,"  he  said  to  himself. 

He  became  a  stowaway  until  the  next  watch  was 
changed  in  the  fire-room.  Then  he  mingled  with 
the  crowd  of  sooty  men  who  went  off  duty.  Un 
molested,  he  clambered  up  the  ladders,  slipped  into 
an  alley-way,  and  came  to  the  promenade  deck  with 
the  blessed  open  sky  above  him.  Ostentatiously 
swinging  a  wrench,  he  ambled  aft  and  reconnoitred 
the  entrance  to  the  first-cabin  quarters.  Men  were 
dragging  out  lines  of  hose,  others  chopping  away 
charred  woodwork  and  pitching  it  overboard.  One 
of  them  paused  to  look  at  the  large  grimy  person  in 
overalls,  but  he  displayed  the  wrench  and  casually 
explained: 

"Orders  from  the  engine-room.  The  heat  warped 
the  skylight  fittings.  Hot  work,  wasn't  it?" 

Once  inside  the  doorway,  Johnny  Kent  made  for 
his  state-room,  which  had  been  untouched  by  fire. 
O'Shea  saw  him  pass,  but  made  no  sign  of  recogni 
tion.  A  few  minutes  later  the  comrades  twain  were 
holding  a  glad  reunion  behind  the  bolted  door. 
The  engineer  collapsed  on  the  transom  berth  and 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  239 

sat  in  a  ponderous  heap,  holding  his  head  hi  his 
hands. 

"My  legs  are  trembly  and  I  feel  all  gone  in  the 
pit  of  my  stummick,  Cap'n  Mike,"  he  huskily 
croaked.  "I  was  plumb  near  scared  to  death. 
This  easy  livin'  has  made  me  soft,  and  I  ain't  as 
young  as  I  was.  But  I  got  away  with  it." 

"How?  'Tis  a  miracle  ye  have  performed  this 
night,  Johnny,  me  boy." 

"I  let  in  the  water  and  she'll  flood  herself,"  was 
the  weary  reply.  "It  was  easy  after  I  once  ran  the 
blockade.  What  about  your  bonfire?  She  was  a 
corker  by  the  looks  of  things." 

"She  was  that,"  laughed  O'Shea.  "Vonderholtz 
came  boilin'  hi  with  his  men  and  put  it  out  after  a 
tussle.  He  suspected  we  touched  it  off,  but  he  could 
not  prove  it.  It  was  the  stump  of  a  cigar  that  some 
careless  gentleman  tossed  into  the  library  waste- 
basket,  ye  understand.  Let  me  help  you  get  your 
clothes  off.  Lie  down  and  rest  yourself." 

Kicking  off  the  overalls,  Johnny  Kent  lighted 
his  pipe,  stretched  himself  in  his  bunk,  and  ex 
claimed  : 

"I'll  turn  in  with  my  duds  on.  We  are  liable  to 
be  roused  out  between  now  and  morning." 

"Are  ye  sure  the  ship  will  not  go  to  the  bottom?" 
anxiously  asked  O'Shea. 

"I  won't  swear  to  it,  Cap'n  Mike,  but  this  is  a 
well-built  steamer,  and  she  was  new  a  year  ago. 
Her  bulkheads  will  stand  up  under  a  lot  of  pressure. 
The  engine  and  fire  room  compartments  will  fill  to 


240       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

the  water-line,  but  she'll  float,  or  I've  made  a  darn 
bad  blunder." 

"You  know  your  business,  Johnny.  If  the  black 
guards  think  she  is  sinking  under  them,  'tis  all  we 
ask." 

"Tuck  me  in  and  wash  my  face,"  murmured  the 
engineer.  "I'm  too  doggoned  tired  to  worry  about 
it." 

O'Shea  made  him  comfortable  and  withdrew  to 
keep  an  eye  on  events.  Order  had  been  restored. 
The  passengers  were  once  more  closely  guarded,  and 
as  a  new  precaution  sentries  were  stationed  in  the 
halls.  O'Shea  waited  until  the  men  with  revolvers 
were  relieved  at  midnight  and  another  squad  took 
their  places.  Then  he  heard  one  of  them  say  to 
another  that  there  was  serious  trouble  below.  The 
ship  had  run  over  a  bit  of  submerged  wreckage  or 
somehow  damaged  her  bottom  plates.  She  was 
leaking.  The  water  was  making  into  the  midship 
compartments. 

To  O'Shea  this  was  the  best  news  in  the  world. 
With  an  easier  mind,  he  went  to  his  room.  The 
hateful  inaction,  the  humiliating  imprisonment,  were 
almost  over.  God  helping  him,  he  would  whip  this 
crew  of  outlaws  on  the  morrow  and  win  the  mas 
tery  of  the  Alsatian. 

Before  daybreak  Johnny  Kent  turned  over  in  his 
bunk  and  growled: 

"She's  slowed  down,  Cap'n  Mike.  The  engines 
are  no  more  than  turnin'  over.  That  means  the 
water  is  almost  up  to  the  furnaces  and  the  men  are 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  241 

desertin'  their  posts.  You  can't  keep  firemen  below 
when  the  black  water  is  sloshin'  under  their  feet. 
It  gets  their  nerve." 

"The  whole  crew  will  go  to  pieces  if  the  panicky 
feeling  once  takes  hold  of  them,  Johnny.  They  have 
never  worked  together.  A  lot  of  them  are  no  sea 
men  at  all.  And  Vonderholtz  will  not  be  able  to 
hold  them." 

The  Alsatian  moved  more  and  more  sluggishly, 
like  a  dying  ship.  The  water  was  pouring  into  her 
faster  than  the  pumps  could  lift  it  overside.  It 
was  only  a  question  of  hours  before  the  fires  would 
be  extinguished,  the  machinery  stilled,  and  the  liner 
no  more  than  a  sodden  hulk  rolling  aimlessly  in 
the  Atlantic. 

The  passengers  were  no  longer  under  guard.  They 
walked  the  decks  as  they  pleased.  The  communal 
brethren,  who  had  found  it  so  easy  to  capture  the 
ship,  were  now  at  their  wits'  ends.  Once  or  twice 
their  leader  passed  hastily  between  the  bridge  and 
the  engine-room.  The  confident,  sneering  egotism 
no  longer  marked  the  demeanor  of  the  man.  Ner 
vously  twisting  his  blond  beard,  he  moved  as  one 
without  definite  purpose.  His  elaborate  enterprise 
was  in  a  bad  way.  The  war  against  society  had  suf 
fered  an  unexpected  reverse. 

O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  watched  him  gloatingly. 
The  advantage  was  all  theirs.  They  were  waiting 
for  the  right  moment  to  strike,  and  to  strike  hard. 
They  saw  Vonderholtz  halt  to  speak  to  Miss  Jenness, 
who  stood  apart  and  alone.  He  argued  with  fiery 


242       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

gestures.  She  protested  earnestly,  her  face  sad  and 
tragic.  It  was  as  though  they  had  come  to  the 
parting  of  the  ways. 

At  length  the  Alsatian  ceased  to  forge  ahead. 
The  water  conquered  her.  The  long,  black  hull 
rode  low,  sagging  wearily  to  starboard.  The  bulk 
heads  still  held  firm,  but  it  seemed  inevitable  that 
she  must  shortly  plunge  to  the  bottom. 

Vonderholtz  and  his  men  were  between  the  devil 
and  the  deep  sea  in  more  ways  than  one.  They 
dared  signal  no  passing  vessel  and  ask  assistance,  for 
the  gallows  awaited  them  ashore.  Many  of  them 
were  for  abandoning  the  liner  at  once.  It  was  use 
less,  they  argued,  to  wait  until  she  foundered  under 
their  feet.  The  Alsatian  had  become  untenable. 

Refusing  to  acknowledge  that  ruin  had  overtaken 
his  splendid  conspiracy,  Vonderholtz  stormed  like  a 
madman  at  the  cowards  who  would  take  to  the  boats. 
He  swore  he  would  stand  by  the  ship  until  she  went 
down.  Were  they  to  abandon  the  two  millions  in 
gold?  It  was  impossible  to  save  it  in  the  boats. 
Castaways  could  not  explain  the  possession  of  a  fort 
une  in  treasure. 

The  mutineers,  who  had  openly  broken  away  from 
their  leader,  replied  that  they  would  quit  the  ship 
and  take  chances  of  being  picked  up  or  of  making 
a  landing  at  the  Azores.  Let  the  crew  and  passen 
gers  drown  in  the  ship,  and  good  riddance  to  them. 

The  dissension  increased,  the  bravest  of  the  ras 
cals  resolutely  standing  by  Vonderholtz.  Those  who 
were  for  deserting  the  liner  began  to  crowd  to  the 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  243 

boats  and  swing  them  out,  ready  for  lowering.  Dis 
cipline  had  vanished. 

Captain  Michael  O'Shea  said  a  word  to  Johnny 
Kent,  who  pulled  his  revolver  from  the  breast  of  his 
shirt.  Twenty  of  the  passengers  were  ready  for  the 
order.  Some  had  armed  themselves  with  pieces  of 
steel  piping  unscrewed  from  the  frames  of  the  state 
room  berths.  Others  flourished  clubs  of  scantling 
saved  from  the  wreckage  of  the  fire.  They  were 
men  unused  to  violence — lawyers,  merchants,  even  a 
clergyman — but  they  were  ready  to  risk  their  lives 
to  win  freedom  from  their  shameful  plight. 

The  compact  little  band  swept  out  on  deck  like 
a  cyclone.  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  opened  fire, 
shooting  to  kill.  The  enemy  was  taken  in  flank 
and  in  rear.  Those  who  were  busied  with  the  boats 
tumbled  into  them.  Before  the  rush  of  the  passen 
gers  could  be  checked  they  had  cleared  a  path  for 
ward  and  gained  the  stairway  to  the  bridge-deck. 
Scattering  shots  wounded  one  or  two,  but  shel 
ter  was  found  behind  the  wheel-house  and  chart- 
room. 

O'Shea  ran  to  the  captain's  quarters  and  entered 
with  fear  in  his  heart.  The  room  was  empty,  but 
there  was  blood  on  the  floor  and  signs  of  a  struggle. 

"They  did  away  with  him,"  O'Shea  cried,  his 
voice  choked.  "He  died  like  a  brave  sailor.  Now 
for  the  officers." 

Snatching  an  axe  from  the  rack  in  the  wheel- 
house,  he  jumped  for  the  row  of  cabins.  The  first 
door  was  locked  and  he  smashed  it  in  with  mighty 


244       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

blows.  The  chief  officer  of  the  Alsatian  was  dis 
covered  within,  irons  on  his  wrists,  a  nasty  wound 
slanting  across  his  forehead. 

"Take  me  out  of  this  and  give  me  a  gun,"  sobbed 
the  stalwart  Englishman. 

"How  about  the  rest  of  ye?"  shouted  O'Shea. 

"They  shot  the  old  man  and  clubbed  Hay  den, 
second  officer,  to  death.  The  others  are  alive." 

"Lay  your  hands  on  the  rail  yonder  and  hold 
steady,"  O'Shea  commanded  him.  "I  will  shear 
the  links  of  those  bracelets  with  the  axe." 

This  done  they  broke  into  the  other  rooms  and 
released  the  surviving  junior  officers  who  had  been 
surprised  while  asleep.  Raging  and  cursing,  they 
caught  up  axes  and  iron  belaying-pins  and  joined 
O'Shea  in  the  sally  to  release  the  seamen  locked  up 
in  the  forecastle  and  the  stewards  penned  below. 
Recognizing  the  grave  danger,  Vonderholtz  tried  to 
rally  his  armed  men  and  hold  the  boat-deck  against 
attack.  But  his  force  was  divided  and  disorganized 
and  part  of  it  was  in  the  boats.  His  power  had 
crumbled  in  a  moment.  He  was  on  the  defensive, 
fighting  for  life. 

Now  the  crew  of  the  Alsatian  came  swarming 
against  him,  even  the  stewards  no  longer  obsequious 
slaves  of  the  tray  and  napkin  but  yelping  like  wolves. 
Heedless  of  bullets,  the  large  force  led  by  O'Shea, 
Johnny  Kent,  and  the  chief  officer  of  the  Alsatian 
charged  with  irresistible  ferocity.  They  penned 
forty  of  the  Communal  Brotherhood  between  the  rail 
and  the  deck-house  amidships,  and  fairly  hammered 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  245 

and  jammed  them  through  the  nearest  doorway 
and  made  them  prisoners. 

Vonderholtz  comprehended  that  the  ship  was  lost 
to  him  and  that  it  was  every  man  for  himself  and 
flight  into  the  boats.  He  somehow  got  clear  of  the 
whirling  conflict,  found  room  to  turn,  and  stood  with 
his  back  to  a  derrick-mast  while  he  let  drive  with  his 
pistol  and  put  a  bullet  through  O' Shea's  arm. 

Roaring  vengeance,  Johnny  Kent  would  have 
killed  the  blond  leader  in  his  tracks,  but  just  then 
Miss  Jenness  ran  swiftly  to  Vonderholtz,  caught 
hold  of  his  hand,  and  urged  him  frantically  toward 
the  nearest  boat.  Johnny  Kent  forbore  to  shoot. 
He  could  not  hit  his  target  without  driving  a  bullet 
through  the  girl.  Nor  did  any  man  hinder  them, 
as  Vonderholtz  and  Miss  Jenness,  dark,  tragic,  in 
comprehensible,  moved  quickly  to  the  edge  of  the 
ship  and  leaped  into  the  crowded  boat  that  had 
just  swung  clear.  It  descended  from  the  over 
hanging  davits  and  plopped  into  the  smooth  sea. 
As  the  falls  were  unhooked  at  the  bow  and  stern, 
the  men  on  the  thwarts  set  the  long  oars  hi  the 
thole-pins  and  clumsily  pushed  away  from  the  side 
of  the  liner. 

It  would  have  been  easy  to  shoot  Vonderholtz 
from  the  deck  above,  but  he  crouched  in  the  stern- 
sheets  with  the  girl  clinging  close  at  his  side,  so  that 
she  seemed  to  be  trying  to  shield  him.  No  one  was 
willing  to  risk  killing  the  woman  in  order  to  deal 
retribution  to  the  chief  criminal. 

"Blaze  away  at  the  other  boats!    Kill  all  you 


246       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

can!"  shouted  the  chief  officer  of  the  Alsatian. 
"Shoot  into  the  thick  of  them  before  they  pull  out 
of  range!" 

"Let  them  go,"  gravely  counselled  O'Shea,  who 
was  trying  to  bandage  his  bleeding  arm.  "God 
Almighty  will  hand  out  justice  to  them.  Those 
boats  will  not  live  through  the  first  squall,  for  they 
are  overcrowded  and  there  are  few  seamen  amongst 
them." 

The  lawful  crew  of  the  Alsatian  gathered  together 
and  watched  the  boats  drift  to  leeward.  There  was 
no  more  shooting  by  either  side.  It  was  as  if  a 
truce  had  been  declared.  Johnny  Kent  made  a 
trumpet  of  his  hands  and  shouted  in  tremendous 
tones  to  the  boat  in  which  Vonderholtz  had  es 
caped  : 

"We  tricked  you  and  we  whipped  you,  you  cow 
ardly  dogs.  The  ship  will  float  and  she'll  be  towed 
to  port.  The  laugh  is  on  you,  and  you  can  put  that 
in  your  pipe  and  smoke  it,  my  gay  chemical  pro 
fessor." 

Cries  of  rage  arose  from  the  boats,  but  there  was 
no  returning  to  the  liner,  no  possible  way  of  scaling 
her  towering  sides.  Her  own  crew  held  possession 
of  her  as  securely  as  if  they  were  in  a  fortress.  The 
wind  freshened  briskly  and  the  boats  drifted  farther 
and  farther  away  to  leeward.  The  men  who  filled 
them  must  face  the  dreadful  perils  and  sufferings  of 
castaways  in  mid-ocean.  At  length  the  boats  be 
came  no  more  than  white  specks,  and  then  they  van 
ished  beyond  the  misty  horizon. 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  247 

"If  Vonderholtz  could  have  had  his  way  he  would 
have  destroyed  the  ship  with  every  soul  in  her  before 
he  abandoned  her,"  said  O'Shea. 

"He  had  me  on  the  list,"  piped  up  Jenkins  P. 
Chase,  who  strutted  importantly,  for  he  had  knocked 
down  a  foeman  and  clubbed  him  into  submission. 
"Now,  about  that  young  woman,  Miss  Jenness. 
Hanged  if  she  wasn't  a  fine-looking  proposition. 
There's  a  romance  for  you,  eh?" 

"'Tis  my  guess  that  she  loved  him  but  could  not 
stand  for  his  violent  doctrines,"  said  O'Shea.  "And 
she  was  afraid  to  oppose  him  for  fear  she  would  lose 
him  entirely.  And  maybe  he  persuaded  her  to 
make  this  voyage  with  him  and  he  would  take  her 
away  to  live  with  him  somewhere  and  be  happy. 
'Twas  an  evil  day  for  her  when  she  met  him,  wherever 
it  was,  but  she  was  ready  to  die  for  him.  The  love 
of  women!" 

Four  days  later  an  unlovely  little  British  cargo 
tramp,  wandering  across  from  South  America  with 
an  empty  hold,  sighted  the  Alsatian  helpless  and 
flying  signals  of  distress.  The  humble  skipper  of 
this  beggarly  craft  could  not  believe  his  eyes.  His 
wildest,  most  fantastic  dreams  of  salvage  were  about 
to  come  true.  As  he  steamed  alongside  the  chief 
officer  of  the  liner  shouted: 

"  Tow  us  to  New  York  and  settle  with  the  owners." 

"Will  I?"  bawled  the  bewhiskered  skipper,  dan 
cing  a  jig.  "  I'll  hang  onto  my  end  of  the  bloomin' 
hawser  as  long  as  this  hooker  of  mine  will  float. 
Are  you  stove  up  inside?  Broke  a  shaft?" 


248       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"No.  Engine-room  full  of  water.  We  opened 
the  sea-cocks  on  purpose." 

"You're  drunk  or  crazy,"  cried  the  skipper;  "but 
I  will  tow  you  to  hades  for  the  price  that  will  be 
awarded  for  this  job." 

It  was  a  plucky  undertaking  for  the  under-engined, 
under-manned  tramp,  but  the  Alsatian  sent  extra 
hands  aboard,  and  the  two  vessels  crept  slowly  in 
toward  the  Atlantic  coast,  swung  to  the  northward, 
and  after  a  tedious  voyage  came  in  sight  of  Sandy 
Hook.  The  wild  and  tragic  experience  through  which 
she  had  passed  seemed  incredible  to  those  on  board. 
So  many  days  overdue  was  this  crack  liner  of  the 
International  service  that  tugs  had  been  sent  to 
search  for  her.  The  newspapers  reported  her  as 
missing  and  probably  lost. 

"You  and  Johnny  Kent  will  be  grand-stand  he 
roes,"  said  Jenkins  P.  Chase  to  Captain  Michael 
O'Shea.  "You  have  done  a  tremendously  big  thing, 
you  know.  By  jingo,  nothing  is  too  good  for  you. 
Of  course,  the  company  will  treat  you  handsomely 
and  come  down  with  the  cash.  But  don't  forget  my 
proposition.  It  still  holds  good.  Come  to  my  office 
and  fill  out  a  blank  check  and  I'll  sign  it  like  a  shot. 
That  murderous  scoundrel,  Vonderholtz,  intended  to 
throw  me  overboard.  I  saw  it  in  his  eyes." 

"About  that  check,  Mr.  Chase,"  said  O'Shea 
with  a  friendly  smile,  "forget  it.  You  are  a  great 
little  man,  and  we  forgive  you  for  being  so  rich, 
but  'twas  not  the  kind  of  a  job  that  seafarin'  men 
take  money  for  from  a  shipmate.  Johnny  and  me 


THE  LINER  "ALSATIAN"  249 

had  to  find  a  way  out.  It  was  a  matter  of  profes 
sional  pride,  as  ye  might  say." 

The  rubicund  engineer  beamed  his  indorsement 
of  this  sentiment  and  added  cheerily: 

"What  the  company  chooses  to  give  us  will  be 
our  lawful  due,  which  we  earned  in  savin'  property 
and  treasure.  And  if  my  share  amounts  enough  to 
buy  me  a  tidy  little  farm  in  the  grand  old  State  o' 
Maine,  I  won't  envy  you  and  your  millions  one 
darned  solitary  mite,  Mr.  Jenkins  P.  Chase.  And 
I  won't  feel  like  joining  any  Communal  Brother 
hood  to  take  'em  away  from  you." 


THE  BRANDED  MAN 


AN  elderly  man  of  ample  girth  was  plying  a  hoe 
in  a  very  neat  and  tidy  vegetable  garden.  His  bat 
tered,  good-natured  visage  reflected  pleasure  in  the 
task  and  contentment  with  existence.  Blue  overalls 
were  hitched  to  his  shoulders  by  a  pair  of  straps. 
A  lock  of  gray  hair  poked  itself  through  a  hole  in 
his  ragged  straw  hat.  His  shirt-sleeves  were  rolled 
up  to  display  a  pair  of  ponderous,  sunburnt  arms 
upon  which  were  tattooed  an  anchor  and  a  pink- 
eyed  mermaid.  Ever  and  anon  this  bucolic  person 
turned  his  attention  to  a  boy  who  was  weeding  the 
onion  bed  on  his  hands  and  knees,  and  thundered 
admonitions  at  him  in  a  voice  that  carried  across 
the  pasture  and  startled  the  grazing  cows. 

The  youth  thus  bombarded  showed  no  signs  of 
terror.  In  fact,  he  grinned  quite  amiably  as  if  hard 
ened  to  threats  of  being  skinned  alive  or  triced  up  by 
the  thumbs.  Obviously,  he  considered  his  employer's 
bark  worse  than  his  bite.  At  length  the  latter  leaned 
on  his  hoe  to  remark  with  heated  candor: 

"Say,  Bub,  those  weeds  grow  faster  than  you  pull 
'em  up.  Is  there  anything  slower  than  you  in  this 
part  of  the  country?" 

The  boy  turned  from  watching  a  woodchuck 

250 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  251 

meander  toward  its  hole  and  promptly  answered 
with  a  touch  of  pride: 

"It  runs  in  the  family,  Mr.  Kent.  My  pa  is  the 
slowest  man  in  the  village,  an'  my  grand-dad  was 
slower  than  he  be,  so  ma  says.  Us  Perkinses  is  all 
slower 'n  molasses  in  January." 

"Well,  if  I  could  find  another  bey,  I'd  lift  you  off 
this  farm  by  the  slack  of  your  pants,"  snorted  Johnny 
Kent.  "You  make  me  peevish  in  spots,  and  I  aim 
to  be  the  happiest  man  on  earth." 

"You  can't  find  another  boy,"  was  the  unruffled 
reply.  "They're  all  off  hayin'.  Say,  Mr.  Kent, 
it's  a  great  day  to  go  fishin'.  An'  this  garden  is  jes' 
full  of  fat,  juicy  angle- worms." 

"Doggone  it,  Bub,  I'll  have  to  go  you,"  cried  the 
elderly  gardener  with  smiling  animation.  "You  dig 
the  bait  and  we'll  start  right  after  dinner." 

He  forsook  the  vegetables  and  moved  at  a  leisurely 
gait  in  the  direction  of  a  small  white  cottage  with 
green  blinds,  in  front  of  which  blazed  a  gorgeous 
profusion  of  hollyhocks.  At  the  porch  he  halted  to 
drop  into  a  canvas  hammock,  the  ropes  of  which 
were  spliced  sailorwise,  and  sought  his  ease  for  a 
few  minutes  while  he  fondly  contemplated  his  landed 
possessions.  The  green  fields,  rolling  and  pleasantly 
diversified  by  patches  of  woodland,  were  framed  by 
ancient  stone-walls.  In  the  foreground  loomed  the 
capacious  barn,  flanked  by  the  hen-house  and  wood 
shed.  To  the  right  of  the  cottage  extended  an  apple 
orchard  whose  gnarled  trees  were  laden  with  fruit. 

It  was  here  that  Johnny  Kent  had  cast  anchor,  in 


252       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

the  haven  of  his  dreams,  and  he  roundly  swore  that 
the  sea  should  know  him  no  more.  He  was  done 
with  nursing  crippled  engines  and  hammering 
drunken  stokers.  The  hazards  of  his  calling  were  for 
younger  men.  A  stroke  of  good  fortune  during  his 
last  voyage  with  Captain  Michael  O'Shea,  in  the 
liner  Alsatian,  had  given  him  the  cash  in  hand  to 
pay  for  the  longed-for  "farm  in  the  grand  old  State 
o'  Maine"  and  a  surplus  to  stow  in  the  bank. 

"Here  I  am,"  he  said  to  himself  as  he  swung  his 
legs  in  the  hammock,  "and  it's  too  blamed  good  to 
be  true,  honest  it  is.  Fightin'  potato-bugs  is  all  the 
excitement  I  pine  for,  and  when  the  red  cow  lets 
go  her  hind  foot  and  capsizes  me  and  the  pail 
and  the  milkin'-stool,  it's  positively  thrilling.  No 
watches  to  stand  and  nothing  to  pester  me,  barrin' 
that  lazy,  tow-headed  Perkins  boy.  And  I'm  going 
fishin'  with  him  this  afternoon  just  to  show  myself 
how  independent  I  am  of  skippers  and  owners  and 
charters  and  such  foolishness." 

With  this  the  retired  chief  engineer  entered  the 
cottage  and  passed  into  the  kitchen.  The  floors  had 
been  scrubbed  white  with  sand  and  holy-stone.  The 
brass  door-knobs  and  andirons  were  polished  like  gold. 
The  wood-work  glistened  with  speckless  white  paint. 
What  furniture  there  was  consisted  of  solid,  old- 
fashioned  pieces,  such  as  Windsor  chairs,  a  highboy, 
a  claw-footed  table  or  two,  and  a  desk  of  bird's-eye 
maple.  No  bric-a-brac  cluttered  them.  Habit  had 
schooled  this  nautical  housekeeper  to  dispense  with 
loose  stuff  which  might  go  adrift  in  a  heavy  sea-way. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  253 

Kicking  himself  out  of  his  overalls,  he  tied  a  white 
apron  about  his  waist  and  bent  his  attention  to  the 
kitchen  stove.  The  green  peas  were  boiling  merrily, 
the  potatoes  were  almost  baked,  and  it  was  time  to 
fry  the  bacon  and  eggs.  He  cooked  his  own  dinner 
with  as  hearty  good-will  as  he  had  hoed  the  garden. 
It  was  all  part  of  the  game  which  he  enjoyed  with 
such  boyish  zest. 

Stepping  to  the  back  door,  he  blew  a  blast  on  a 
tin  horn  to  summon  the  Perkins  boy.  That  lazy 
urchin  sped  out  of  the  onion  bed  as  if  he  had  wings, 
and  Johnny  Kent  was  moved  to  comment: 

"Be  careful,  Bub,  or  your  family'll  disown  you. 
You  came  bowlin'  along  to  your  vittles  like  you  were 
actually  alive!  Right  after  dinner  you  wash  the 
dishes  and  scour  them  tins,  and  if  you  leave  a  spot 
on  'em  no  bigger  than  a  flea's  whisker,  I'll  nail  your 
hide  to  the  barn  door.  Then  we'll  hitch  up  the  mare 
and  jog  along  to  East  Pond  with  our  fish-poles." 

"Folks  in  town  think  it  kind  o'  queer  you  don't 
hire  a  woman  to  keep  house,"  said  the  Perkins  off 
spring  as  he  took  the  wash-basin  down  from  its 
hook. 

"You  can  tell  'em  with  my  compliments  that 
they're  a  gabby  lot  of  gossips  and  ought  to  have  a 
stopper  put  on  their  jaw- tackle,"  returned  Johnny 
Kent  with  surprising  heat  and  a  perceptible  blush. 
"I  can  look  after  myself  without  any  advice  from 
the  village." 

Young  Perkins  snickered  and  thought  it  wise  to 
change  the  subject.  When  they  sat  down  to  table, 


254       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

the  host  was  in  the  best  of  humor  as  he  declaimed 
with  tremendous  gusto: 

"Did  you  ever  taste  such  peas?  Raised  'em  my 
self.  Cooked  in  cream  from  my  own  cow.  Early 
Rose  potatoes  from  my  own  garden.  Eggs  from  my 
own  hens.  They  lay  'em  every  day." 

"Hens  have  to  lay  or  bust  this  time  o'  year," 
prosaically  replied  the  youth.  "An'  peas  is  peas." 

"Romance  was  plumb  left  out  of  your  system," 
sighed  the  mariner.  "All  the  years  I  was  wanderin' 
over  the  high  seas  seem  tame  and  monotonous  along 
side  this." 

Before  the  meal  was  ended  there  came  an  inter 
ruption.  Johnny  Kent  dropped  knife  and  fork  and 
suspiciously  sniffed  the  breeze  which  drew  through 
the  open  windows.  "Bub"  Perkins  likewise  showed 
uneasy  symptoms  and  cocked  his  freckled  snub  nose 
to  sniff  the  air.  It  was  a  tableau  evidently  of  some 
importance.  Presently  they  both  arose  without  a 
word  and  hastened  out  of  doors  to  scan  the  peaceful 
landscape  far  and  near. 

"I  smelled  wood  smoke,  sure  as  guns,"  said  Johnny 
Kent. 

"So  did  I.  I  bet  a  cooky  it's  another  fire,"  ex 
citedly  cried  young  Perkins.  "I  can't  see  anything, 
can  you?" 

"Not  yet.  The  woods  have  been  afire  seven  times 
in  the  last  week,  and  it  ain't  accidental,  Bub.  The 
buildings  will  begin  to  go  next.  My  farm  has  been 
spared  so  far." 

The  boy  was  climbing  into  an  apple-tree,  from 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  255 

which  perch  he  was  able  to  gaze  over  the  hill  beyond 
the  pasture.  He  could  see  a  hazy  cloud  of  smoke 
drifting  among  the  pine  growth  of  a  neighboring 
farm  and  in  the  undergrowth  glowed  little  spurts  of 
flame  like  crimson  ribbons.  The  fire  had  gained 
small  headway,  but  unless  speedily  checked  it  might 
sweep  destructively  over  a  large  area. 

"No  fishin'  trip  to-day,"  sorrowfully  muttered 
Johnny  Kent.  "Pick  up  the  shovels  and  hoes  and 
some  empty  grain  sacks,  Bub,  while  I  put  the  mare 
in  the  buggy.  It's  a  case  of  all  hands  turnin'  out 
again." 

The  call  of  duty  had  never  found  the  stout-hearted 
mariner  indifferent,  and  a  few  minutes  later  he  was 
driving  down  the  country  road  under  forced  draught, 
the  vehicle  bounding  over  rocks  and  ruts,  and  the 
Perkins  boy  hanging  on  with  both  hands.  Already 
the  alarm  had  spread,  and  farmers  were  leaving  their 
mowing  machines  and  hay-racks  in  the  fields  to 
hurry  in  the  direction  of  the  burning  woodland. 
Wagons  loaded  with  men  came  rattling  out  from  the 
village.  Two  or  three  of  the  recent  fires,  so  mys 
teriously  frequent,  had  done  much  damage,  and  the 
neighborhood  was  alert  to  respond. 

Experience  had  taught  the  volunteer  force  how 
to  operate.  They  dashed  into  the  woodland  and 
fought  the  fire  at  close  range.  Some  wetted  sacks 
in  a  near-by  brook  and  beat  out  the  flying  embers 
and  the  blazing  grass.  Others  shovelled  sand  and 
earth  upon  the  creeping  skirmish-line  of  the  confla 
gration.  The  most  agile  climbed  the  trees,  which 


256       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

were  just  beginning  to  catch,  and  chopped  off  the 
flaming,  sizzling  branches.  They  toiled  like  heroes, 
regardless  of  the  wilting  heat  and  blinding,  choking 
smoke. 

Johnny  Kent  was  not  a  man  to  spare  himself,  and 
he  raged  in  the  fore-front  of  the  embattled  farmers, 
exerting  himself  prodigiously,  shouting  orders,  taking 
command  as  a  matter  of  habit.  The  others  obeyed 
him,  being  afraid  to  do  anything  else,  although  they 
knew  more  about  fighting  forest  fires  than  he.  The 
elderly  marine  engineer  had  grown  unaccustomed  to 
such  violent  endeavor,  and  he  puffed  and  grunted 
hugely  and  ran  rivers  of  perspiration. 

So  promptly  had  the  neighbors  mustered  that  the 
flames  were  conquered  before  they  could  jump  into 
the  thickest  part  of  the  woodland  and  swirl  through 
the  tops  of  the  pines.  Leaving  a  patrol  to  search 
the  undergrowth  in  search  of  stray  sparks,  the 
farmers  withdrew  from  the  blackened  area  and  gath 
ered  together  to  listen  to  the  excited  story  of  a  young 
man  armed  with  a  shot-gun. 

"This  ain't  the  first  fire  that's  been  set  on  my 
property,"  said  he.  "My  pasture  was  touched  off 
in  three  places  last  Saturday  night,  but  a  heavy 
shower  of  ram  come  along  and  put  it  out.  Next 
iriornin',  just  before  day,  my  corn-crib  was  burnt 
to  the  ground.  Since  then  I've  been  lookin'  around 
in  the  woods  whenever  I  could  spare  the  time " 

"  It's  spite  work  or  there's  a  lunatic  firebug  roam- 
in'  the  country,"  put  in  the  first  selectman  of  the 
village. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  257 

"The  spite  ain't  aimed  at  me  in  particular,"  re 
sumed  the  young  man  with  the  gun.  "Mark  Wil 
son's  wood  lot  has  been  set,  and  the  Widow  Morgan's 
back  field,  and  nobody  knows  where  it  will  happen 
next.  As  I  was  about  to  say,  when  I  fust  seen  the 
smoke  this  afternoon  I  was  on  the  other  side  of  the 
young  growth,  and  I  put  for  it  as  hard  as  I  could. 
And  I  saw  a  man  sneakin'  away  from  the  fire.  I  threw 
up  my  gun  to  give  him  a  dose  of  buckshot,  but  he 
dodged  among  the  trees  and  was  over  the  hill  and 
down  in  the  hollow  before  you  could  say  Jack  Rob 
inson.  I  ain't  very  speedy  since  I  was  thro  wed  out 
of  the  dingle-cart  and  broke  my  leg,  and  the  strange 
man  got  away  from  me." 

"He's  the  crittur  that's  been  settin'  all  the  fires," 
exclaimed  the  first  selectman.  "What  in  thunder 
did  he  look  like,  Harry?  Give  me  a  description,  and 
I'll  call  a  special  meeting  of  the  board  to-night,  and 
we'll  offer  a  reward,  mebbe  as  much  as  twenty  dol 
lars." 

"I  can't  say  exactly.  He  was  six  feet  tall,  or  five, 
anyhow,  and  light-complected,  though  he  might  have 
been  dark,  and  he  had  on  brown  clothes,  but  I  ain't 
quite  sure  about  the  color.  Anyhow,  he's  the  man 
we've  got  to  ketch  before  we  can  sleep  easy  in  our 
beds." 

Johnny  Kent  was  too  weary  to  take  much  interest 
in  a  man-hunt,  even  with  the  magnificent  largeness 
of  twenty  dollars  in  prospect.  Summoning  the  Per 
kins  boy,  who  was  heaving  rocks  at  a  small  turtle  on 
the  bank  of  the  brook,  he  clambered  heavily  into  the 


258       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

buggy  and  turned  the  mare  toward  the  road.  The 
afternoon  had  been  spoiled  and  the  worthy  mariner 
was  in  a  disgruntled  mood.  A  serpent  had  entered 
his  Eden.  Likely  enough  the  scoundrel  who  was 
starting  conflagrations  all  over  the  landscape  would 
soon  give  his  attention  to  the  beloved  farm  with 
the  white  cottage  and  the  very  neat  and  tidy  vege 
table  garden. 

The  owner  thereof  ambled  to  the  porch  with  the 
gait  of  one  utterly  exhausted  and  dumped  himself 
into  the  nearest  chair.  His  face  was  well  blackened 
with  smoke  and  soot.  His  raiment  had  been  torn  to 
rags  by  the  thickets  through  which  he  had  so  gallantly 
plunged.  He  looked  like  an  uncommonly  large  scare 
crow  in  the  last  stages  of  disrepair.  Moreover,  his 
eyes  were  reddened  and  smarted  acutely,  he  had  a 
stitch  in  the  side,  and  his  stomach  ached. 

While  he  reposed  in  this  state  of  ruin,  there  came 
briskly  walking  through  his  front  gate  a  ruddy,  well- 
knit  figure  of  a  man,  young  in  years,  whose  suit  of 
blue  serge  became  him  jauntily.  Halting  to  survey 
the  trimly  ordered  flower-beds  and  vine-covered  por 
tico,  he  ceased  whistling  a  snatch  of  a  sea  chantey 
and  nodded  approvingly.  Following  the  path  to  the 
side  of  the  cottage,  he  beheld  the  disreputable  person 
seated  in  a  state  of  collapse  upon  the  porch.  Instead 
of  expressing  courteous  sympathy,  the  visitor  put  his 
hands  on  his  hips  and  laughed  uproariously. 

Stung  by  this  rude  levity,  Johnny  Kent  heaved 
himself  to  his  feet  and  hurled  the  chair  at  the  head 
of  the  heartless  young  man,  who  dodged  it  nimbly, 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  259 

ducked  the  swing  of  a  fist  big  enough  to  land  him 
in  the  middle  of  next  week,  if  not  farther,  and  shoved 
the  engineer  into  the  canvas  hammock  where  he 
floundered  helplessly  and  sputtered: 

"Howdy,  Cap'n  Mike!  It's  a  low-down  Irish 
trick  to  laugh  at  a  man  that's  all  wore  out  and  tore 
up  the  way  I  am." 

Captain  Michael  O'Shea  strove  to  check  his  un 
seemly  mirth  and  thumped  his  old  comrade  affec 
tionately  as  he  explained: 

"So  this  is  the  happy,  simple  life  that  ye  cracked 
on  about  for  years.  You  look  it,  Johnny.  Was  it 
an  explosion  that  wrecked  you  or  have  ye  been 
cleaning  boilers?  And  is  every  day  like  this  on  the 
dear  old  homestead?" 

"Not  by  a  darn  sight.  I  had  to  take  a  turn  of 
extra  duty.  I'm  the  happiest  man  in  the  world, 
Cap'n  Mike.  And  I'm  tickled  to  death  to  clap  eyes 
on  you.  Wait  till  I  wash  up  and  change  my  clothes." 

"  Sure  I'll  wait,  Johnny.  'Tis  a  visit  I  have  come 
to  pay.  You  are  sensitive  about  the  terrible  condi 
tion  I  find  ye  in,  so  I  will  say  no  more.  But  if  I  was 
surveyin'  you  for  Lloyds,  I  would  mark  you  down 
as  a  total  loss.  And  how  are  the  pigs  and  chickens?  " 

The  portly  farmer  brightened  instantly  and 
wheeled  in  the  door  to  exclaim: 

"You  just  ought  to  see  'em!  Now  how  did  I  get 
along  at  sea  all  those  years  without  'em?  Can  you 
tell  me  that?" 

"'Twas  the  lack  of  them  that  made  ye  so  thin  and 
melancholy,"  said  O'Shea  with  a  grin.  "  Clean  your- 


260       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

self  up  and  fill  the  old  pipe  with  the  wicked  brand  of 
cut  plug  that  ye  misname  tobacco,  and  we  will  sit 
down  and  talk  it  over." 

"Aye,  aye,  Cap'n  Mike.  And  there's  some  bottles 
of  beer  in  the  ice-box  in  the  wood-shed.  It's  just 
abaft  the  galley.  Help  yourself." 

The  shipmaster  enjoyed  exploring  the  cottage 
while  his  host  repaired  damages  and  presently  re 
appeared  in  a  white-duck  uniform,  which  he  had 
worn  as  chief  engineer  of  the  English  steamer  Tar- 
lingion. 

"There  now,  you  look  more  like  a  man  and  less 
like  a  fat  coal-heaver  that  has  blown  all  his  wages 
for  rum,"  said  Captain  O'Shea.  "And  will  ye 
rummage  in  the  lockers  for  a  bite  to  eat?  The  train 
that  fetched  me  had  difficulty  in  finding  this  cute 
little  town  of  yours.  I  mistrust  'twas  not  on  the 
chart  at  all,  and  we  wandered  for  hours  and  hours 
looking  for  it  and  stopping  to  take  soundings  at  ten 
million  way-stations.  Where  is  the  cook?" 

"I'm  the  whole  crew,"  replied  Johnny  Kent  as  he 
convoyed  his  guest  into  the  kitchen.  "You  see, 
Cap'n  Mike,  I  found  it  wouldn't  do  to  have  a  woman 
workin'  for  me.  All  the  old  maids  and  widows  in  the 
township  seemed  anxious  to  get  the  berth.  But  a 
solid  man  like  me,  with  money  in  the  bank,  has  to 
be  careful.  Confound  it,  they  pestered  me!  I  don't 
want  to  talk  about  it." 

Until  sunset  the  comrades  yarned  and  laughed, 
sprawling  in  the  shade  of  an  apple-tree  or  rambling 
arm-in-arm  over  the  farm.  Then  the  mariner  had  his 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  261 

chores  to  do,  which  consisted  mostly  in  bullying  the 
Perkins  boy,  while  O'Shea  chuckled  to  think  of  the 
tempestuous  scenes  in  which  he  had  beheld  Johnny 
Kent  play  a  dominant  part.  The  shipmaster  had 
a  purpose  up  his  sleeve,  but  he  had  artfully  delayed 
disclosing  it  until  he  could  discover  how  firmly  the 
engineer  was  anchored  to  his  pastoral  existence. 

After  supper,  which  O'Shea  helped  prepare  with 
the  handiness  of  a  sailor,  they  walked  slowly  to  and 
fro  in  the  garden,  falling  into  step  by  force  of  habit, 
for  thus  they  had  passed  many  an  hour  on  bridge 
and  deck  beneath  the  stars.  The  tranquillity  of  the 
place,  the  sense  of  comfort  and  repose,  soothed  the 
restless  temper  of  O'Shea  and  turned  his  mind  to 
thoughts  of  a  home  and  fireside  of  his  own.  But  he 
was  well  aware  that  this  mood  would  pass. 

"  'Tis  sad  I  am  that  I  cannot  tarry  long  with  you 
and  your  intelligent  pigs  and  hens,  Johnny,"  said 
he,  "but  I  have  a  bit  of  business  in  hand." 

"What  is  it?  Does  it  look  good  to  you,  Cap'n 
Mike?"  demanded  the  other.  "We've  been  so  busy 
livin'  our  fights  and  frolics  all  over  again  that  I 
haven't  had  a  chance  to  hurl  questions  at  you. 
Why  don't  you  stay  ashore  and  take  it  easy  for  a 
while?  You've  got  money;  plenty  of  it.  Blow  it 
like  a  gentleman." 

"And  what  would  be  the  fun  of  that?  I  have  a 
charter  in  mind.  Would  ye  like  to  hear  of  it?" 

The  contented  farmer  cocked  his  head  alertly  and 
stood  in  his  tracks.  The  light  in  his  eye  was  not 
inspired  by  his  neat  rows  of  beets,  carrots,  and  cab- 


262       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

bages.  O'Shea  perceived  that  he  was  curious,  and 
hastened  to  add,  in  the  most  winning  accents: 

"  'Tis  the  kind  of  a  game  you  used  to  like,  Johnny. 
I  have  looked  over  the  steamer,  and  she  would  please 
you.  Politics  are  stewin'  in  the  Persian  Gulf  and 
intrigues  are  as  thick  as  huckleberries.  The  British 
and  the  Russians  have  locked  horns  again,  do  ye 
mind,  and  the  poor  deluded  Persians  will  be  prodded 
into  a  revolution,  and  divil  a  bit  of  good  it  will  do 
them.  When  the  smoke  clears  the  two  benevolent 
Powers  will  try  to  beat  each  other  to  the  plunder. 
Just  now  they  are  manceuvrin'  for  position." 

"Pshaw!  Cap'n  Mike,  haven't  you  recovered  from 
them  delusions  about  the  Persian  Gulf?"  growled  the 
engineer. 

"'Tis  no  dream,  Johnny.  I  have  met  a  man  in 
New  York.  He  came  from  Europe  to  find  me- 
The  proposition  is  copper-riveted.  I  take  the 
steamer  and  load  her  with  arms  and  munitions  in 
a  Mediterranean  port  and  deliver  them  to  certain 
parties  somewheres  the  other  side  of  Aden.  The 
British  gun-boats  are  patrollin'  the  Gulf  to  put  a 
crimp  in  this  industry,  so  there  will  be  a  run  for 
me  money." 

Johnny  Kent  was  silent  while  he  meditated  and 
listened  to  the  whisper  of  temptation.  Then  a  pig 
grunted  in  its  straw  litter,  a  chicken  chirped  drowsily 
on  its  perch,  and  the  breeze  rustled  among  the  lux 
uriant  pole-beans  and  tomatoes.  And  O'Shea  had 
come  to  coax  him  away  from  this  enchanted  place. 
He  would  hear  what  the  blarneying  rascal  had  to  say 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  263 

and  convince  him  of  his  folly.  The  shipmaster 
liked  not  the  stolid  silence  of  his  companion.  He 
knew  it  of  old  for  a  stubbornness  that  nothing  could 
budge.  However,  he  went  on  with  the  argument: 

"I  need  an  engineer,  Johnny.  And  will  ye  not 
take  one  more  fling  with  me?  You  are  an  old  rover, 
and  this  messing  about  a  farm  will  not  content  you 
for  long.  'Tis  no  place  for  a  bold  man  that  knows 
his  trade.  Wait  a  bit  and  come  back  here  when  ye 
have  seen  the  green  seas  tumbling  over  the  bows  once 
more  and  felt  the  swing  of  a  good  ship  under  you, 
and  heard  the  trade-winds  singing  in  your  ears,  and 
watched  the  strange  faces  in  ports  that  are  new 
to  ye." 

"I've  heard  you  talk  before,  Cap'n  Mike,  and 
your  tongue  never  gets  hung  on  a  dead-centre," 
was  the  deliberate  reply.  "You'll  have  to  dish  up 
something  more  attractive  than  the  blisterin'  Per 
sian  Gulf  to  drag  me  from  my  moorings.  Do  I  act 
restless?" 

"About  as  much  so  as  that  old  barn  yonder,"  ad 
mitted  the  other. 

"See  here,  Cap'n  Mike,  the  farm  next  to  mine 
can  be  bought  cheap.  It  cuts  a  hundred  tons  of  hay 
and  pastures  forty  head  of  stock.  I  meant  to  write 
you  about  it  soon.  Why  don't  you  buy  it  and  settle 
down  alongside  of  me?" 

"You  are  the  hopeless  old  barnacle,"  laughed 
O'Shea.  "'Tis  plain  that  I  waste  me  words.  If 
my  seductive  persuasions  have  missed  fire  entirely 
I  must  bid  ye  farewell  in  the  morning  and  lay  a 
course  back  to  New  York." 


264       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"I  wish  I  could  hold  you  longer,"  sighed  Johnny 
Kent.  "  The  Grange  picnic  comes  right  after  hayin', 
and  there's  other  excitements  to  keep  you  busy." 

"And  this  is  the  talk  I  hear  from  a  man  that  used 
to  enjoy  risking  his  neck  between  the  divil  and  the 
deep  sea.  Maybe  ye  can  offer  me  the  mad  intoxi 
cation  of  a  husking-bee." 

"They're  out  of  season  just  now,"  seriously  re 
turned  the  agriculturist. 

"Well,  we  will  not  quarrel,  Johnny.  I  have  taken 
notice  that  it  made  you  fretty  to  ask  why  ye  were 
so  mussed  up  and  dirty  when  I  strolled  in  this  after 
noon.  Have  you  cooled  off  by  now  and  do  you  mind 
explaining  yourself?  You  were  an  awful  sight  and 
I  was  near  moved  to  tears." 

"You  laughed  at  me  like  a  darned  hyena,"  grum 
bled  Johnny.  "  It  wa'n't  friendly,  Cap'n  Mike.  I'd 
been  fightin'  a  fire  till  I  was  wrecked  fore  and  aft. 
And  for  all  I  know  we  may  have  to  turn  out  again 
to-night  and  fight  another  one." 

"Then  I  will  stand  watch  and  watch  with  you 
and  keep  lookout.  And  why  have  ye  turned 
prophet?  Can  you  predict  them,  same  as  you  read 
the  weather  signs?" 

"Pretty  near,"  dolefully  answered  Johnny  Kent. 
"  Some  miserable  scoundrel  has  been  settin'  the  woods 
afire  to  burn  us  all  out.  He  was  sighted  to-day,  but 
the  lunk-head  that  caught  him  in  the  act  wasn't 
quick  enough  to  shoot  him.  Settin'  fires  in  a  dry 
season  like  this  is  as  bad  as  murder." 

O'Shea  had  found  something  to  interest  him. 
There  might  be  a  spice  of  adventure  in  this  drowsy 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  265 

region.  And  his  friend  seemed  so  genuinely  worried 
that  he  was  eager  to  help  him.  With  a  thrill  of 
gratitude  he  recalled  a  certain  night  off  a  tropic 
coast  when  Johnny  Kent  had  led  the  gang  that  de 
scended  into  a  blazing  hold  and  saved  a  ship  from 
being  blown  to  atoms. 

"  Maybe  my  business  in  New  York  can  wait  a 
day  or  so  longer,"  said  he.  "'Tis  unmannerly  of 
me  to  leave  you  accumulating  more  white  hairs  in 
that  frosty  old  thatch  of  yours." 

"You'd  sooner  hunt  trouble  than  a  square  meal," 
gratefully  exclaimed  Johnny.  "I  ain't  so  spry  on 
my  feet  as  I  was,  and  my  wind  is  short,  or  I'd  go 
after  this  firebug  and  scupper  him  by  myself.  I 
haven't  felt  real  worried  over  it  till  to-day,  but  he's 
worked  nearer  and  nearer  my  place,  and  I'm  blamed 
if  I  can  set  up  all  night  watchin'  for  him." 

"'Tis  a  tired  man  I  know  you  are  to-night,  so  I 
will  tuck  ye  in,  and  then  I  will  wander  a  bit  and 
keep  an  eye  lifted.  It  would  please  me  to  run  afoul 
of  this  unpleasant  gentleman  with  the  bonfire  habit." 

"The  fires  have  been  coming  in  couples,  Cap'n 
Mike.  If  there's  one  in  the  daytime,  it's  a  good 
bet  that  another  one  will  break  loose  the  next 
night." 

The  engineer  yawned  and  confessed  with  an  air  of 
apology:  "I'm  tuckered  and  no  mistake.  Suppose 
I  turn  in  now  and  you  rouse  me  out  at  eight  bells 
of  the  first  watch." 

"Right  enough.  Where's  your  old  pair  of  night- 
glasses;  and  have  ye  a  gun?  If  I  find  the  disturber 


266       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

I  may  want  to  bend  it  over  his  head.  I  would  sooner 
catch  him  than  kill  him." 

"It  ain't  a  mite  hospitable  to  treat  you  this  way, 
Cap'n  Mike." 

"Pooh,  man.  Ye  do  me  a  favor.  'Twould  recon 
cile  me  to  buying  the  next  farm  if  there  was  a  chance 
of  a  ruction  now  and  then." 

An  hour  later  Captain  Michael  O'Shea  was  climb 
ing  the  long,  easy  slope  of  the  barn  roof.  One  end  of 
it  supported  a  water-tank  built  upon  a  platform  of 
stout  timbers.  Here  the  enterprising  lookout  found 
room  to  sit  and  scrutinize  the  surrounding  woods 
and  fields.  The  sky  was  starlit  but  the  darkness 
had  a  duskier,  more  impenetrable  quality  than  on  a 
clear  night  at  sea.  O'Shea's  keen  vision,  accustomed 
to  sweep  large  and  lonely  horizons,  was  rather  baf 
fled,  but  the  powerful  glasses  enabled  him  to  distin 
guish  the  vague  outlines  of  the  woodland  and  meadow 
and  pasture  boundaries. 

In  a  blithe  humor  he  smiled  at  the  odd  situation 
in  which  he  found  himself.  Good  old  Johnny  Kent 
had  actually  achieved  a  farm,  and  here  was  his  com 
mander  perched  on  top  of  the  barn  like  a  weather 
cock,  and  enjoying  it,  forsooth.  His  nimble  wits 
had  framed  the  most  effective  strategy  possible.  It 
would  be  futile  to  go  blundering  through  the  woods 
on  a  blind  trail.  From  his  elevated  station  he  could 
see  the  first  spark  of  fire  to  glow  in  any  direction. 
The  incendiary  would  linger  to  make  sure  that  the 
fire  had  fairly  caught,  and  O'Shea  hoped  to  catch 
him  unawares  and  overpower  him. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  267 

The  silent  hours  wore  on  and  drew  near  to  mid 
night  when  he  had  promised  to  arouse  Johnny  Kent. 
Nothing  suspicious  had  been  descried.  A  whippoor- 
will  sounded  its  call  with  such  breathless,  unflagging 
persistence  that  the  sentinel  amused  himself  count 
ing  the  sweet,  monotonous  notes  and  concluded  that 
a  vast  deal  of  energy  was  going  to  waste. 

"That  bird  is  over-engined  for  its  tonnage,"  he 
reflected.  "Well,  I  have  stood  me  watch  in  worse 
places  than  this.  'Tis  a  shame  to  turn  poor  old 
Johnny  out  of  his  bunk.  I  will  stay  up  here  awhile 
and  listen  to  the  long-winded  bird  and  enjoy  the 
pleasure  of  me  own  company." 

His  back  against  the  water-tank,  he  could  not 
walk  to  ward  off  the  drowsiness  that  was  borne  on 
the  wings  of  the  soft  night  wind  all  laden  with  the 
smells  of  trees  and  earth  and  hay-fields.  His  vigi 
lance  relaxed  and  his  thoughts  drifted  away  to  other 
climes  and  places. 

He  came  out  of  his  revery  with  a  sudden  start, 
convinced  that  he  had  been  caught  napping,  for  his 
eyes  had  failed  to  detect  anything  moving  in  the 
direction  of  the  barn.  But  he  could  hear  some  one 
groping  about  close  to  the  side  of  the  building.  A 
stick  snapped,  the  bushes  rustled,  and  there  were 
other  sounds  very  small  yet  significant.  Captain 
Michael  O'Shea  gingerly  forsook  the  little  platform 
and  began  to  slide  down  the  roof,  fairly  digging  his 
fingers  and  toes  into  the  shingles  with  the  tenacity 
of  a  cat. 

The  overhanging  eaves  made  it  difficult  to  ob- 


268       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

serve  what  was  going  on  below.  In  order  to  peep 
over  the  edge  of  the  roof,  the  shipmaster  was  com 
pelled  to  sprawl  upon  his  stomach  with  his  heels 
higher  than  his  head  and  with  no  purchase  by  which 
to  maintain  his  grip.  It  was  a  wide-angled  roof  or 
he  would  have  tobogganed  off  into  space  before  his 
laborious  descent  carried  him  as  far  as  the  eaves. 
However,  in  his  trade  a  man  who  could  not  hang 
on  by  his  eyelids  was  a  lubber  of  a  sailor,  and  the 
bold  O'Shea  wriggled  into  position  an  inch  at  a  time. 

The  mysterious  noises  might  have  been  made  by 
Johnny  Kent  prowling  in  search  of  him,  but  O'Shea 
was  afraid  to  call  out  lest  he  might  frighten  away 
the  object  of  his  vigil.  His  trousers  catching  on  a 
nail  and  holding  him  fast  for  a  moment,  he  ceased 
his  precarious  exertions  long  enough  to  listen.  This 
time  his  ear  caught  the  crackle  of  crumpling  pa 
per  and  a  succession  of  sharper  noises  as  if  some  one 
were  breaking  dry  wood  over  his  knee.  He  smelt 
the  unmistakable  odor  of  kerosene.  Almost  directly 
beneath  him,  and  not  more  than  a  dozen  feet  distant, 
an  attempt  was  well  under  way  to  set  fire  to  Johnny 
Kent's  barn. 

With  more  speed  and  less  caution  O'Shea  man 
aged  to  poke  his  head  over  the  edge  of  the  roof, 
intending  to  get  his  bearings  before  launching  the 
attack.  He  found  himself  directly  above  a  shad 
owy  figure  which  flitted  to  the  wood-pile  and  back 
again  with  quick,  furtive  movements.  Captain 
O'Shea  had  never  found  himself  in  a  more  embar 
rassing  situation.  He  disliked  the  idea  of  letting 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  269 

go  and  diving  head  first,  which  was  the  quickest 
method  of  coming  to  close  quarters.  And  even  if 
he  should  try  to  turn  about  and  launch  himself 
right  end  to,  he  was  likely  to  hit  the  earth  with  the 
deuce  and  all  of  a  thump  and  perhaps  break  his  leg 
on  a  stick  of  cord-wood.  The  ladder  by  which  he 
had  climbed  to  the  roof  was  on  the  other  side  of 
the  building  and  he  had  no  time  to  scramble  in 
search  of  it. 

While  he  hesitated  the  man  beneath  him  scratched 
a  match.  Startled  and  flurried  at  sight  of  this  immi 
nent  danger,  O'Shea  let  his  grip  loosen  for  an  in 
stant  and  the  law  of  gravity  solved  the  problem  for 
him.  With  a  blood-curdling  yell  he  slid  over  the 
brink,  his  fingers  clawing  wildly  at  the  shingles  and 
the  wooden  gutter.  Head  downward  he  plunged 
and  by  rights  should  have  broken  his  neck.  His 
own  theory  to  explain  his  survival  was  that  an  Irish 
man  always  alights  on  his  feet.  The  fact  was  that 
the  incendiary  stranger  happened  to  be  in  a  stoop 
ing  posture  and  0' Shea's  head  smote  him  squarely 
between  the  shoulders. 

Both  men  rolled  over  and  over  like  shot  rabbits. 
There  followed  an  interval  during  which  the  one 
took  no  thought  of  hostilities,  and  the  other  had  no 
interest  in  flight.  O'Shea  sat  up  at  length,  grunted 
once  or  twice,  and  rubbed  his  head  in  a  dazed  man 
ner.  The  pile  of  kindling  had  been  scattered,  but  a 
fragment  of  newspaper  was  burning  and  he  brought 
his  heel  down  on  it.  His  quarry  now  began  to  realize 
that  his  back  was  not  broken  and  he  showed  signs 


270       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

of  life.  The  pair  sat  glaring  at  each  other,  speech 
less,  endeavoring  to  regain  the  wind  that  had  been 
knocked  out  of  them. 

As  tough  as  sole-leather  was  Captain  O'Shea,  and 
not  to  be  put  out  of  commission  by  so  trifling  a  mis 
hap  as  this.  His  head  was  spinning  like  a  top  and 
he  felt  sick  and  weak,  but  he  had  a  job  on  hand  and 
he  meant  to  finish  it.  The  revolver  was  missing 
from  his  pocket.  It  had  been  dislodged  by  his 
tumble  and  it  was  useless  to  grope  for  it  in  the  dark 
ness.  By  now  the  other  man  had  found  his  feet  and 
was  moving  unsteadily  toward  the  end  of  the  barn. 
O'Shea  made  for  him  and  they  clinched  in  a  clump 
of  burdocks. 

Neither  was  in  the  best  of  condition  to  make  a 
Homeric  combat  of  it.  To  0' Shea's  dismay  he  dis 
covered  that  he  had  caught  a  Tartar  as  collision- 
proof  as  himself.  He  tried  to  grip  the  fellow  by  the 
throat  and  to  throw  him  with  a  heave  and  a  twist,  but 
a  pair  of  arms  as  muscular  as  his  own  flailed  him  in 
the  face  and  hammered  his  ribs.  Then  the  brawny 
young  shipmaster  let  fly  with  his  fists  and  broke 
his  knuckles  against  a  jaw  which  seemed  to  be  made 
of  oak. 

"If  the  both  of  us  was  ship-shape  we  would  make 
a  grand  fight  of  it,"  panted  O'Shea  with  the  shadow 
of  a  grin.  "'Tis  no  time  for  etiquette  and  I  will 
stretch  him  before  he  does  the  same  for  me." 

"Wait  till  I  set  my  teeth  in  you,"  growled  his 
adversary,  finding  speech  for  the  first  time.  "I'll 
tear  your  windpipe  out,"  and  he  followed  the  horrid 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  271 

threat  with  a  string  of  oaths  that  chilled  0' Shea's 
blood,  although  he  had  heard  profanity  over  all  the 
seven  seas.  The  accents  were  so  hoarse  and  savage 
as  to  be  even  more  alarming  than  the  words.  The 
shipmaster  ceased  to  regard  the  fight  in  the  light  of 
a  diversion.  He  was  convinced  that  he  had  a  mad 
man  to  deal  with.  Keeping  clear,  he  turned  and 
made  for  the  wood-pile,  a  few  yards  distant.  Grop 
ing  for  a  moment,  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  catch 
up  a  four-foot  length  of  hickory  sapling,  as  handy  a 
bludgeon  as  he  could  desire. 

As  if  at  bay,  the  other  man  made  no  effort  to  es 
cape  during  this  respite,  but  lunged  after  O'Shea,  who 
wheeled  in  the  nick  of  time  and  found  room  to  swing 
his  hickory  club.  It  rose  and  fell  only  once.  The 
madman  toppled  over  and  collapsed  among  the  bur 
docks. 

"He  will  stay  there  for  a  while,"  said  the  weary 
O'Shea.  "I  caught  him  fair  over  the  ear,  and  'tis 
a  safe  bet  that  I  put  a  dent  in  him." 

Thereupon  he  turned  his  lagging  footsteps  in  the 
direction  of  the  cottage.  A  lantern  came  bobbing 
out  of  the  wood-shed  door,  and  its  light  revealed  the 
large  presence  of  Johnny  Kent  simply  clad  in  a  flow 
ing  night-shirt  and  a  pair  of  slippers.  At  discerning 
O'Shea  advancing  through  the  gloom,  he  shouted: 

"Why  didn't  you  wake  me  up  at  eight  bells?  I 
just  come  to  and  turned  out  to  look  for  you,  Cap'n 
Mike.  All  quiet,  I  suppose?" 

"Yes.  I  made  it  quiet,  you  sleepy  old  terrapin," 
returned  O'Shea  with  a  laugh  before  they  had  come 


272       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

together.  "Didn't  you  hear  me  yell  when  I  fell  off 
the  barn  roof?" 

"Nary  a  yell.  I  do  sleep  sounder  than  when  I 
was  at  sea,"  and  Johnny  Kent  waddled  nearer  and 
held  the  lantern  higher.  "Gracious  saints,  what 
have  you  been  doin'  to  yourself?  Your  nose  is  all 
bloodied  up  and  one  eye  is  bunged.  What  do  you 
mean  by  falling  off  my  barn  roof?  You  must  have 
tapped  that  barrel  of  hard  cider  in  the  cellar." 

"I  tapped  a  harder  customer  than  that,  Johnny. 
It  was  a  gorgeous  shindy  while  it  lasted,  but  I  had 
to  wind  it  up.  I  caught  your  fire-bug  and  I  laid 
him  out  in  the  barn-yard.  Ye  can  hold  a  wake  over 
him  or  send  for  the  police." 

The  engineer  swung  his  lantern  in  excited  circles 
as  he  pranced  toward  the  barn,  unmindful  of  the 
chilly  breeze  that  played  about  his  bare  shanks. 

"You're  not  jokin',  are  you,  Cap'n  Mike?  The 
situation  is  too  blamed  serious  for  that.  You  landed 
him,  honest?  You're  the  man  to  turn  the  trick. 
Where  did  you  ketch  him?" 

"I  got  the  drop  on  him,  as  ye  might  say,  and  it 
was  a  divil  of  a  drop.  My  neck  is  an  inch  shorter 
than  it  was,  but  me  collision  bulkhead  held  fast. 
He  is  a  broth  of  a  boy,  and  he  will  be  hard  to  hold 
when  he  comes  out  of  the  trance  I  put  him  in." 

"And  I  missed  the  fun,"  mourned  Johnny.  ."I'm 
surely  getting  old,  Cap'n  Mike.  But  I  guess  we  can 
handle  him  without  sending  for  the  village  constable 
to-night." 

"  I  have  seen  you  tame  some  pretty  tough  tarriers. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  273 

This  is  a  bad  one  and  no  mistake.  Fetch  the  lantern 
closer  and  we  will  look  him  over." 

They  ploughed  through  the  burdocks,  the  prickly 
burrs  causing  Johnny  Kent  to  stride  high  and  wide. 
The  stranger  lay  as  he  had  fallen.  The  light  re 
vealed  him  as  a  powerfully  built  man  of  middle  age 
with  reddish  hair  and  a  stubbled  growth  of  beard. 
The  dilapidated  shirt  and  trousers  were  stained  with 
earth  and  grass,  and  held  together  by  a  leather  belt. 
His  captors  were  about  to  scrutinize  him  more  closely 
when  he  opened  his  eyes,  groaned,  and  raised  him 
self  upon  his  elbow  with  an  unexpected  display  of 
vitality.  Bidding  Johnny  Kent  stand  by  with  the 
lantern,  O'Shea  caught  up  the  hickory  club  and 
flourished  it  as  a  hint  that  unconditional  surrender 
was  advisable. 

The  prisoner  blinked  stupidly  at  the  lantern  and 
made  no  effort  to  rise.  His  aspect  was  not  in  the 
least  ferocious.  O'Shea  could  scarcely  believe  that 
this  was  the  madman  who  had  threatened  to  sink 
his  teeth  in  him  and  discommode  his  windpipe. 
Rough-featured  he  was  and  unkempt  beyond  words, 
but  he  conveyed  a  most  incongruous  impression  of 
kindly  and  harmless  simplicity,  and  O'Shea  was  the 
more  amazed  to  hear  him  mutter  in  his  hoarse,  curi 
ously  thickened  accents: 

"Can  you  spare  a  chew  of  tobacco,  shipmate?" 

"Well,  I'll  be  jiggered,"  exclaimed  Johnny  Kent, 
absently  feeling  for  his  trousers'  pockets  which  were 
not  there.  "You  certainly  did  tame  him  a  whole 
lot,  Cap'n  Mike." 


274       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Tis  a  riddle  I  cannot  fathom  at  all,"  was  the 
reply. 

Indignation  got  the  upper  hand  of  the  engineer's 
generous  impulse  and  he  explosively  demanded  of 
the  stranger: 

"What  do  you  mean  by  tryin'  to  set  fire  to  my 
barn,  you  addle-headed,  misbegotten,  murderous  son 
of  a  sculpin?  I  wish  Cap'n  Mike  had  knocked  the 
block  clean  off  you." 

The  queer  visitor  showed  no  resentment,  but 
smiled  in  an  amiable  sort  of  fashion  and  rubbed  a 
large,  red  welt  just  above  his  right  ear.  Never  a 
word  did  he  say,  although  the  twain  plied  him  with 
questions.  His  demeanor  was  as  friendly  as  if  they 
had  done  him  some  signal  service. 

"If  you  can't  talk,  maybe  ye  can  walk,"  gustily 
shouted  O'Shea.  "We  will  clap  ye  under  hatches 
for  to-night  and  investigate  by  daylight.  We  have 
caught  an  odd  fish  this  time,  Johnny." 

"Prod  him  into  the  wood-shed  and  lock  him  up," 
grumbled  the  other.  "He's  plumb  twistified  in  his 
mental  works,  and  I  can't  make  head  or  tail  of 
him." 

At  a  beckoning  gesture  the  prisoner  meekly  tried  to 
get  on  his  feet,  but  he  had  been  shorn  of  his  strength 
and  he  fell  twice  before  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent 
grasped  him  by  the  arms  and  steered  him  in  the 
path  that  led  to  the  cottage.  He  stumbled  along 
like  a  drunken  man  and  had  to  be  half-dragged  over 
the  low  step  at  the  wood-shed  door.  Calling  himself 
a  soft-hearted  old  fool,  the  engineer  bustled  into  the 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  275 

house  and  dragged  forth  a  spare  mattress.  O'Shea 
obtained  a  lamp  in  the  kitchen,  also  cold  water  and 
a  towel  to  bathe  the  hurt  that  his  hickory  weapon 
had  inflicted. 

The  red-haired  man  sat  forlornly  upon  the  mat 
tress,  leaning  against  the  coal-bin,  his  hands  clasped 
over  his  knees.  He  had  the  dumb,  wistful  look  of  a 
beaten  dog,  and  his  eyes,  remarkably  blue  of  color, 
followed  Captain  O'Shea  with  no  ill-will,  but  like  one 
who  recognized  his  master.  It  was  clear  enough 
that  he  was  to  be  dealt  with  as  a  man  with  a  dis 
ordered  mind,  and  it  was  unmanly  to  hold  him  ac 
countable  for  his  arson  and  violence.  Attacked  un 
awares  in  the  darkness,  there  had  been  provocation 
for  his  bestial  outbreak,  and  it  was  to  be  concluded 
that  his  usual  mood  was  harmless,  excepting  a  fatal 
fondness  for  playing  with  fire. 

"I  have  a  strong  notion  that  he  is  a  seafarin'  man," 
said  O'Shea,  as  he  gave  the  captive  a  stiff  drink  of 
whiskey  from  the  bottle  kept  in  the  hall  cupboard. 
"Maybe  this  will  buck  him  up  and  set  his  tongue 
going.  That's  a  sailor's  belt  he  has  on,  Johnny. 
And  he  has  the  look  of  it." 

The  engineer  had  put  his  spectacles  on  his  nose  and 
was  examining  the  litter  of  small  objects  he  had 
fished  out  of  the  man's  pockets.  One  of  them  was 
like  a  leather  thong  thickened  in  the  middle,  and 
he  cried  excitedly: 

"You're  right,  Cap'n  Mike.  Here's  a  sailor's 
palm — a  sea  thimble,  and  the  cuss  has  mended  his 
clothes  with  it.  See  the  patch  on  his  shirt,  and  he 


276       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

has  stitched  the  holes  in  his  shoes  with  bits  of  tarred 
twine." 

"He  called  me  shipmate  when  he  asked  for  a 
chew,  but  many  a  landlubber  uses  the  word  and  I 
did  not  lay  much  store  by  it." 

"It's  only  twenty  miles  to  the  Maine  coast,"  said 
Johnny  Kent,  "and  he  may  have  wandered  inland 
from  one  of  the  ports." 

"I  have  a  hunch  that  he  didn't  come  out  of  a 
coasting  schooner.  The  beggar  has  sailed  deep  wa 
ter  in  his  time.  I  wonder  if  he  is  hungry.  Better 
introduce  him  to  some  grub.  He  is  rounding  to,  but 
he  has  about  as  much  conversation  in  him  as  an 
oyster." 

The  engineer  rummaged  in  the  kitchen  and  brought 
out  a  plate  of  biscuits,  cold  bacon,  potatoes,  and 
pickles,  which  the  red-haired  man  ate  with  an  avid 
ity  that  betokened  starvation.  The  sight  moved 
Johnny  Kent  almost  to  tears.  The  last  spark  of 
his  animosity  was  quenched.  There  was  no  more 
awful  fate  than  to  be  separated  from  three  square 
meals  per  day. 

"We'll  swab  the  dirt  off  him  and  shuck  those 
ragged,  rotten  clothes  before  we  batten  him  down  for 
the  night,"  said  Johnny.  "I  can't  leave  a  sailor  in 
this  fix,  even  if  he  is  flighty  in  the  main-top  and  has 
tried  to  smoke  out  the  whole  darn  neighborhood." 

While  he  departed  in  search  of  a  shift  of  raiment, 
Captain  O'Shea  removed  the  man's  shirt.  At  the 
first  tug  it  tore  and  came  away  in  his  hands.  The 
prisoner  had  remained  sitting  in  the  same  posture,  but 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  277 

now  he  moved  and  lazily  stretched  his  length  upon 
the  mattress,  lying  on  his  stomach,  his  face  pillowed 
against  his  arm.  His  hunger  satisfied,  the  desire  of 
sleep  had  overtaken  him,  and  his  heavy  breathing 
told  O'Shea  that  the  extraordinary  guest  had  car 
ried  his  riddle  to  dream-land. 

Johnny  Kent  had  taken  the  lamp  into  the  house, 
and  the  lantern  which  had  been  left  standing  on  the 
floor  cast  a  long,  dusky  shadow  athwart  the  recum 
bent  figure.  The  shipmaster  stood  looking  down 
at  the  massive  shoulders  and  knotted,  hairy  arms  of 
the  stranger  when  his  attention  was  fixed  by  some 
thing  which  caused  him  to  stare  as  though  startled 
and  fascinated  and  perplexed.  The  man's  broad 
back  bore  some  kind  of  a  design,  an  uncouth,  sprawl 
ing  pattern  such  as  no  artist  in  tattooing  could  ever 
have  traced  to  please  a  sailor's  fancy. 

It  was  a  huge  disfigurement  composed  of  bold  lines 
and  angles  which  stood  out  in  black  projection 
against  the  white  skin.  Even  in  the  dim  light,  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  could  discern  that  these  rude  markings 
had  been  done  with  a  purpose,  that  they  composed 
themselves  into  a  symbol  of  some  sort.  They  looked 
as  if  they  had  been  laid  on  with  a  brush,  in  broad, 
sweeping  strokes  which  ran  the  width  of  the  back, 
and  all  the  way  down  to  the  waist.  The  man  could 
not  have  made  them  himself.  They  were  mysterious, 
sinister. 

O'Shea  was  neither  timid  nor  apt  to  be  caught  off 
his  guard,  but  his  pulse  fluttered  and  his  mouth  felt 
dry.  He  was  in  the  presence  of  something  wholly 


278       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

beyond  his  ken,  baffling  his  experience.  This  red- 
haired  derelict,  whose  wits  had  forsaken  him,  brought 
a  message  hostile,  alien,  and  remote.  Presently 
O'Shea  bethought  himself  of  the  lantern  and  made 
for  it  with  nervous  haste.  Holding  it  close  to  the 
back  of  the  sleeping  man,  he  stared  with  horrified 
attention  and  pitying  wrath  that  a  human  being 
should  have  been  so  maltreated. 

The  great  symbol  or  design  had  been  slashed  in  the 
flesh  with  strokes  of  a  sword  or  knife.  The  edges  of 
the  scars  stood  out  in  rough  ridges.  Into  the  wounds 
had  been  rubbed  India-ink  or  some  like  substance 
which  the  process  of  healing  held  indelibly  fixed. 
The  pattern  thus  made  permanent  and  conspicuous 
was  that  of  a  character  of  the  Chinese  or  Japanese 
language. 

Johnny  Kent  came  out  of  the  kitchen  and  beck 
oned  him.  The  engineer  stood  open-mouthed  and 
gazed  down  at  the  tremendous  ideograph  that  had 
been  so  brutally  hacked  in  human  flesh.  O'Shea 
had  nothing  to  say.  What  was  there  to  say?  The 
thing  was  there.  It  spoke  for  itself.  What  it  meant 
was  an  enigma  which  neither  man  could  in  the 
smallest  degree  attempt  to  unravel.  When  Johnny 
Kent  spoke  it  was  only  to  voice  the  obvious  fact  or 
two  that  required  no  explanation. 

"He  was  chopped  and  branded  proper,  wasn't  he, 
Cap'n  Mike?  And  it  was  done  for  some  devilish 
purpose.  I've  knocked  about  most  of  the  ports  in 
the  Orient,  but  I  never  heard  of  anything  like 
this." 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  279 

"They  made  a  document  of  him,  Johnny.  "Pis 
Chinese  workmanship,  I'm  thinking.  How  could  a 
man  live  through  a  thing  like  that?  For  the  love 
of  heaven,  look  at  those  scars!  They  are  as  wide 
as  me  thumb,  and  some  of  them  are  better  than  a 
foot  long.  And  they  stand  out  so  black  and  wicked 
that  it  gives  me  the  creeps." 

"It  means  something,  Cap'n  Mike.  And  it's  up 
to  us  to  find  the  answer.  One  of  them  Chinese  char 
acters  may  tell  a  whole  lot.  Their  heathen  fashion 
of  slingin'  a  pen  is  more  like  drawin'  pictures.  A 
few  lines  and  a  couple  of  wriggles  all  bunched  up 
together  and  it  tells  the  story." 

"And  what  is  this  story,  Johnny?  Answer  me 
that." 

"You  can  search  me.  It's  almighty  queer  busi 
ness  to  happen  on  my  peaceful  farm  in  the  State  o' 
Maine." 

"Let  the  poor  beggar  rest  here  till  morning  and 
then  we  will  consider  him  some  more.  I  guess 
we  don't  want  to  turn  him  over  to  the  constable, 
Johnny." 

"Not  till  we  try  our  hand  at  translatin'  him.  I 
wish  I  had  a  Chinese  dictionary.  Say,  Cap'n  Mike, 
you're  as  welcome  as  the  flowers  in  spring,  but  as 
soon  as  you  set  foot  on  my  farm  things  begin  to  hap 
pen.  Trouble  is  a  step-brother  of  yours.  It's  like 
harborin'  a  stormy  petrel." 

"'Tis  not  fair  to  blackguard  me,"  laughed  O'Shea. 
"You  and  your  neighbors  can  sleep  easy  in  your 
beds  for  I  have  caught  the  bogie-man." 


280       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"I  wish  I  knew  what  it  is  you've  caught,"  sighed 
the  engineer. 

O'Shea  bent  over  the  sleeping  man  in  order  to 
raise  his  head  and  slip  underneath  it  a  rolled  blanket 
to  serve  as  a  pillow.  His  fingers  chanced  to  detect 
on  the  top  of  the  skull  a  curious  depression  or  groove 
over  which  the  red  hair  was  rumpled  in  a  sort  of 
cow-lick.  Examination  convinced  him  that  this  was 
the  result  of  some  violent  blow  which  had  fairly 
dented  the  bony  structure  and  pressed  it  down  upon 
the  brain. 

"That  is  where  he  got  it,"  said  O'Shea.  "And 
'tis  what  made  a  lunatic  of  him." 

"It  looks  like  they  tried  to  kill  him  with  an  axe 
but  he  was  too  tough  for  'em,  Cap'n  Mike.  No 
wonder  that  crack  you  gave  him  over  the  ear  didn't 
bother  him  much." 

"And  whoever  it  was  that  put  their  mark  on  his 
back  was  the  same  party  who  caved  in  his  lid  or 
I'm  a  liar,"  was  the  conclusion  of  Michael  O'Shea. 


II 

THE  only  inmate  of  the  cottage  who  slept  soundly 
was  the  vagabond  in  the  wood-shed.  His  guardians 
stood  watch  and  watch  as  a  matter  of  habit,  but 
the  early  morning  found  them  both  astir  and  drink 
ing  mugs  of  coffee  very  hot  and  strong.  Their  guest 
had  not  moved  from  his  outstretched  position  on  the 
mattress.  He  slumbered  like  a  man  drugged  or  ut- 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  281 

terly  exhausted.  O'Shea  had  spread  a  blanket  over 
his  naked  back  and  shoulders  partly  for  warmth, 
but  another  motive  also  prompted  him,  He  wished 
to  hide  the  cruel  disfigurement.  It  seemed  unfeel 
ing  to  expose  it. 

Now  by  daylight  he  moved  on  tiptoe  to  the  mat 
tress  and  twitched  the  blanket  aside.  O'Shea  had 
lived  among  hard  men  and  fought  his  way  through 
battering  circumstances  in  which  physical  brutality 
still  survived  to  uphold  the  rude  old  traditions  of  the 
sea.  But  this  sight  made  him  wince  and  shiver,  and 
he  did  not  like  to  look  at  it.  Covering  it  with  the 
blanket  he  fell  to  wondering,  with  an  intensity  of 
interest  that  gripped  him  more  and  more  strongly, 
what  tragedy  was  concealed  behind  the  curtain  of 
this  luckless  man's  past. 

Johnny  Kent  had  agreed  that  he  must  be  har 
bored  in  the  cottage  for  the  present.  Their  surmise 
that  he  was  a  seafarer  made  it  seem  a  duty  to  be 
friend  him  by  all  means  in  their  power.  To  spread 
the  tidings  in  the  village  that  the  pyromaniac  had 
been  caught  would  arouse  a  storm  of  anger  and  re 
sentment.  Amid  much  clamor  and  disorder  he 
would  be  handcuffed  and  tied  with  ropes  and  tri 
umphantly  lugged  to  the  county  jail.  The  farmers 
were  in  no  mood  to  condone  his  misdeeds  on  the 
score  of  mental  irresponsibility.  On  the  other  hand, 
kindly  treatment  and  association  with  those  accus 
tomed  to  follow  the  sea  might  awaken  his  dormant 
intelligence  and  prompt  him  to  reveal  something  of 
his  shrouded  history. 


282       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"It's  an  awkward  proposition,"  sighed  Johnny 
Kent,  "but  we'll  have  to  work  it  out  somehow.  Of 
course  I'm  sorry  for  the  poor  lunatic  that  has  been 
man-handled  so  abominably,  and  so  long  as  we  don't 
give  him  matches  to  play  with  I  guess  he's  safe  to 
have  around.  But  how  can  I  keep  him  hid  from 
my  neighbors?  They're  as  gossipy  and  curious  as  a 
hogshead  of  cats." 

"I  mean  to  find  out  who  branded  him  and  why," 
was  the  vehement  assertion  of  Captain  O'Shea. 

Shortly  after  this  the  stalwart  waif  in  the  wood 
shed  awakened  and  his  captors  were  pleased  to  note 
that  he  was  still  tractable.  Indeed,  he  greeted  them 
with  his  confiding,  good-natured  grin  and  sat  pulling 
on  his  shoes.  To  their  words  of  greeting,  however, 
he  made  no  reply.  Apparently  the  plaintive  re 
quest  for  a  chew  of  tobacco  had  been  the  end  of 
his  conversation. 

"He  used  up  all  the  language  in  his  system," 
commented  O'Shea.  "Maybe  he  will  not  burst  into 
speech  again  unless  I  hit  him  another  crack  over 
the  ear." 

Johnny  Kent  filled  a  tub  with  water  and  indicated 
the  clean  clothes  which  he  had  left  on  the  chair. 
The  derelict  nodded  gratefully  and  the  others  with 
drew. 

"It  wouldn't  do  to  trust  him  with  a  razor,  Cap'n 
Mike,"  said  the  engineer. 

"Pooh!  Fetch  me  the  tackle  and  I  will  shave 
him  meself.  It  will  make  him  look  saner  anyhow 
and  I  want  to  see  what  he  is  like." 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  283 

The  guest  seemed  delighted  with  this  thoughtful 
attention  and  submitted  to  a  dose  of  lather  with  all 
the  good  grace  in  the  world.  Bathed,  shaved,  clad  in 
one  of  Johnny  Kent's  white  suits,  he  was  astonish 
ingly  transformed.  A  strapping  big  man  he  was, 
and  he  held  himself  with  the  easy  poise  of  one  whose 
muscles  had  been  trained  by  hard  work  on  rolling 
decks.  Strolling  into  the  kitchen,  he  passed  through 
it  and  entered  the  other  rooms,  his  guardians  follow 
ing  to  see  what  he  might  do. 

At  sight  of  the  scrubbed  floors,  the  polished  brass- 
work,  the  barometer  on  the  wall,  and  the  simple 
furnishings  so  like  the  cabin  of  a  ship,  his  blue  eyes 
showed  a  flicker  of  interest  and  he  paused  and  ab 
sently  shoved  an  inkstand  back  from  the  shelf  of  a 
desk  lest  it  slide  off.  The  trick  was  so  significant 
of  his  calling  that  O'Shea  needed  no  more  proof.  A 
tin  box  filled  with  matches  caught  his  glance  and  he 
instantly  made  for  them.  His  demeanor  was  furtive 
and  cunning.  He  had  become  a  different  man  in  a 
twinkling. 

Johnny  Kent  jumped  for  him  and  O'Shea  was  at 
his  elbow  ready  for  a  tussle.  But  he  permitted  the 
matches  to  be  taken  from  him  without  resistance,  and 
forgot  all  about  them  in  fingering  the  spliced  ham 
mock  ropes  on  the  porch.  A  gesture  from  O'Shea  and 
he  returned  to  the  kitchen  and  took  the  chair  assigned 
him  for  breakfast.  The  prudent  engineer  kept  an 
eye  on  the  knife  and  fork  which  the  stranger  used 
with  the  manners  rather  of  the  cabin  than  the  fore 
castle.  O'Shea  studied  the  rugged,  honest  features 


284       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

of  this  red-headed  mystery  and  earnestly  expounded 
various  theories  that  wandered  into  blind  alleys 
and  led  nowhere  at  all.  The  only  conjecture  which 
seemed  to  hang  together  was  that,  in  some  way  or 
another,  the  man's  propensity  for  setting  fires  harked 
back  to  the  time  and  scene  of  the  terrible  blow  over 
the  head  which  had  benumbed  his  memory  and 
jarred  his  wits.  Before  this  disaster  overtook  him 
he  must  have  been  a  fellow  ready  and  courageous, 
able  to  hold  his  own  in  the  rough-and-tumble  world. 

"What  shall  we  call  him?  It'll  be  handy  to 
give  him  some  kind  of  a  name,"  suggested  Johnny 
Kent. 

"He  reminds  me  of  Big  Bill  Maguire,  that  was 
mate  of  the  Sea  Bird  bark,  and  fell  through  a  hatch 
and  broke  his  neck  when  he  came  aboard  drunk  at 
Valparaiso.  He  was  a  rare  seaman  when  sober." 

"Let's  call  him  Bill  Maguire,  then,  Cap'n  Mike. 
He  likes  us  and  I  guess  he  intends  to  sign  on  with 
us  and  hang  around." 

"Why  don't  you  try  setting  him  to  work,  Johnny? 
He  would  make  a  jewel  of  a  hired  man." 

"Yes.  On  a  fire-proof  farm  that  was  insured  for 
all  the  underwriters  would  stand  for,"  dubiously  re 
turned  the  engineer.  "I  can't  watch  him  every 
minute." 

Captain  Michael  O'Shea  banged  the  table  with 
his  fist  and  decisively  exclaimed: 

"  'Tis  in  my  mind  to  visit  you  a  day  or  two  longer, 
Johnny.  Curiosity  is  fair  consuming  me.  I  can 
see  the  ugly,  wicked  marks  on  this  poor  beggar's 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  285 

back  whenever  I  shut  me  eyes.  It  haunts  me  like 
a  nightmare  that  is  too  monstrous  to  talk  about." 

"I'd  give  a  thousand  dollars  to  fathom  it,"  roared 
Johnny  Kent.  "And  Bill  Maguire  just  sits  across 
the  table  and  grins  like  a  wooden  figger-head." 

"I  suppose  ye  have  no  Chinamen  in  your  village," 
ventured  O'Shea. 

"Nary  a  Chink.  I'll  bet  the  children  never  saw 
one." 

"And  where  could  we  find  the  nearest  one,  Johnny? 
'Tis  our  business  to  dig  up  a  cock-eyed  lad  that  will 
impart  to  us  the  meaning  of  the  message  that  was 
carved  into  the  back  of  Bill  Maguire.  Nor  will  I 
know  an  easy  minute  till  we  have  the  information." 

Johnny  pondered  a  little  and  then  spoke  up  with 
sudden  hopefulness: 

"Once  in  a  while  I'm  so  sagacious  that  I  surprise 
myself.  The  Chinese  ambassador  spends  his  sum 
mers  on  the  coast  at  Poplar  Cove.  It's  no  more 
than  an  hour  from  here  by  train.  He's  a  fat,  sociable 
old  party,  so  they  tell  me.  And  where  could  you 
find  a  better  man  to  solve  the  riddle  of  Bill  Maguire?  " 

"You  score  a  bull's-eye,"  cried  O'Shea.  "And  he 
will  have  secretaries  and  such,  and  we  will  let  them 
all  have  a  try  at  it." 

"But  how  will  you  show  'em  Bill's  back?  Draw 
it  on  paper,  or  get  a  photograph  made?" 

"Nonsense!  Bill  will  take  his  back  along  with  us. 
We  will  produce  the  original  human  document." 

The  engineer  was  inclined  to  object  to  this,  but 
the  edicts  of  Captain  O'Shea  were  to  be  obeyed,  and 


286       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

to  argue  was  to  waste  words.  The  Perkins  boy  was 
summoned  from  the  barn  and  instructed,  by  means 
of  thundering  intonations,  to  stand  guard  over  the 
farm  at  peril  of  his  life.  He  spent  his  nights  at  his 
own  home  and  had  missed  the  excitement  of  the 
capture  of  Bill  Maguire,  wherefore  the  secret  was 
safely  hid  from  his  inquisitive  eyes  and  ears.  He 
gazed  at  the  robust,  silent  stranger  with  rampant 
curiosity,  but  learned  nothing  beyond  the  fact  that 
his  employer  proposed  to  be  absent  for  the  day 
with  his  two  guests. 

The  young  Perkins  drove  them  to  the  railroad 
station  in  the  two-seated  democrat  wagon,  Johnny 
Kent  sitting  at  his  side  and  smothering  his  ques 
tions.  The  ticklish  business  of  conveying  Bill  Ma 
guire  through  the  village  was  accomplished  without 
the  slightest  mishap.  He  behaved  with  flawless  dig 
nity  and  seemed  contented  with  the  society  of  his 
escort.  During  the  brief  journey  by  train  to  Pop 
lar  Cove  he  slouched  in  his  seat  as  if  half-asleep 
until  the  railroad  swung  across  a  wide  belt  of  salt 
marsh  and  turned  in  a  northerly  direction  to  follow 
the  coast.  There  were  glimpses  of  rocky  headlands 
fringed  with  surf,  of  wooded  inlets  and  white  beaches, 
and  now  and  then  a  patch  of  blue  ocean  and  a  far- 
distant  sky-line. 

The  red-haired  man  from  nowhere  was  mightily 
moved  by  the  smell  and  sight  of  the  sea.  His  heavy, 
listless  manner  vanished.  His  rugged  face  became 
more  intelligent,  more  alert.  It  reflected  tides  of 
emotion,  poignant  and  profound.  It  was  painful  to 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  287 

watch  him  as  he  scowled  and  chewed  his  lip  or 
brushed  away  tears  that  came  brimming  to  his  eyes. 
It  was  evident  that  he  struggled  with  memories  and 
associations  that  came  and  fled  like  tormenting 
ghosts  before  he  could  lay  hold  of  them.  Again,  for 
a  moment,  he  broke  the  bonds  of  his  dumbness,  and 
loudly  uttered  the  words: 

"Make  for  the  boat.  Don't  mind  me.  The 
swine  have  done  for  me." 

To  O'Shea  and  Johnny  Kent  the  words  were  like 
a  flash  of  lightning  against  the  black  background 
of  night.  They  revealed  the  man  for  what  he  had 
been  in  his  prime,  in  the  full  stature  of  heroic  self- 
abnegation,  thinking  of  others  and  not  of  himself 
even  in  the  last  extremity.  They  understood  this 
kind  of  manhood.  It  squared  with  their  own  creed. 
Aglow  with  sympathy,  they  plied  the  derelict  with 
eager  questions,  but  he  only  muttered,  wearily  shook 
his  head,  and  turned  away  to  gaze  at  the  sea.  • 

At  the  Poplar  Cove  station  they  hired  a  carriage 
and  were  driven  along  the  cliff  road  to  the  preten 
tious  summer-place  occupied  by  His  Excellency  Hao 
Su  Ting  and  his  silk-robed  retinue.  To  escort  a 
crazy  sailor  into  the  august  presence  of  the  distin 
guished  diplomat,  and  demand  a  translation  of  the 
brand  upon  his  naked  back  was  an  extraordinary 
performance,  taking  it  by  and  large.  However,  the 
stout  old  engineer  had  no  notion  of  hanging  back. 
He  had  the  fine  quality  of  courage  that  is  not  afraid 
of  ridicule. 

As  for  Captain  O'Shea,  he  was  in  a  wicked  temper, 


288       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

and  it  would  fare  ill  with  the  man  that  laughed  at 
him.  His  smouldering  indignation  at  the  barbarity 
inflicted  upon  the  seaman  had  been  just  now  kindled 
by  the  words  which  leaped  so  vividly  out  of  the 
clouded  past  and  were  winged  with  so  much  signif 
icance.  "Bill  Maguire"  had  unflinchingly  played 
the  cards  as  the  fates  dealt  them  and  had  paid  a 
price  as  bitter  as  death.  The  game  was  unfinished, 
the  account  had  not  been  settled.  At  this  moment 
O'Shea  detested  the  entire  Chinese  race  and  would 
have  gladly  choked  the  ambassador  hi  a  bight  of 
his  own  pigtail. 

The  trio  walked  slowly  across  the  wide  lawn  and 
drew  near  to  the  rambling  white  house  of  a  colonial 
design  to  which  the  Chinese  dignitary  had  trans 
ferred  his  exotic  household.  It  was  for  O'Shea  to 
explain  the  fantastic  errand  and  gain  admittance, 
wherefore  he  prepared  to  dissemble  his  hostile  emo 
tions  and  make  use  of  that  tact  and  suavity  which 
had  carried  him  over  many  rough  places. 

Alas  for  his  plan  of  campaign !  It  was  overturned 
in  a  twinkling.  The  red-haired  sailor  followed  obe 
diently  to  the  pillared  portico  which  framed  the  en 
trance  of  the  house.  O'Shea  rang  the  bell,  and  his 
quick  ear  detected  the  soft  shuffle  of  felt-soled  shoes. 
The  door  was  swung  open  and  there  confronted  them 
a  Chinese  servant  in  the  dress  of  his  country.  At 
sight  of  the  shaven  head,  the  immobile,  ivory-hued 
countenance,  and  the  flowing  garments  of  white  and 
blue,  the  demented  sailor  became  instantly  enraged. 

Snarling,  he  leaped  forward  with  clinched  fists 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  289 

and  his  face  was  black  with  hatred.  The  wary 
O'Shea  was  too  quick  for  him  and  managed  to  thrust 
him  to  one  side  so  that  his  rush  collided  with  the 
casing  of  the  door.  The  frightened  servant  squealed 
and  scuttled  back  into  the  house.  Instead  of  trying 
to  pursue  him,  the  red-haired  man  was  taken  with  a 
violent  fit  of  trembling,  seemingly  compounded  of 
weakness  and  terror.  Before  O'Shea  and  Johnny 
Kent  could  collect  their  wits  in  this  extremely  awk 
ward  situation,  he  wheeled  about,  dashed  between 
them,  and  made  for  the  lawn  as  if  the  devil  were 
at  his  heels. 

O'Shea  was  after  him  like  a  shot,  the  engineer 
puffing  along  in  the  wake  of  the  chase.  The  ser 
vant's  outcries  had  alarmed  the  household.  Out  of 
the  front-door  came  spilling  a  surprising  number  of 
sleek  attaches,  secretaries,  domestics,  and  what  not. 
Behind  them  waddled  at  a  gait  more  leisurely  none 
other  than  His  Excellency  Hao  Su  Ting  in  all  the 
gorgeous  amplitude  of  his  mandarin's  garb.  In  a 
chattering  group  they  paused  to  watch  poor  Bill 
Maguire  flee  with  tremendous  strides  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  roadway,  the  active  figure  of  Captain 
O'Shea  steadily  gaining  on  him.  Far  in  the  rear 
labored  the  mighty  bulk  of  Johnny  Kent. 

The  fugitive  was  not  in  the  best  of  trim  for  a  sus 
tained  effort,  and  he  tired  rapidly,  swaying  from  side 
to  side  as  he  ran.  Near  the  outermost  boundary  of 
the  ambassador's  grounds,  O'Shea  was  able  to  over 
take  and  trip  him.  Maguire  fell  headlong,  ploughing 
up  the  turf,  and  was  so  dazed  and  breathless  that 


2 go       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

O'Shea  was  kneeling  upon  him  and  shoving  a  re 
volver  in  his  face  before  he  could  pull  himself  to 
gether.  Then  Johnny  Kent  came  up,  and  between 
them  they  subdued  the  man's  struggles  to  renew 
his  flight. 

He  made  no  effort  to  harm  either  of  them.  His 
befogged  mind  seemed  to  recognize  them  as  his 
friends  and  protectors.  The  one  impelling  purpose 
was  to  escape  from  the  Chinese.  These  latter  gen 
tlemen  now  came  hurrying  over  the  lawn  to  offer 
aid,  evidently  surmising  that  a  madman  had  bro 
ken  away  from  his  keepers  and  possibly  had  sought 
the  place  to  harm  His  Excellency.  Poor  Maguire 
groaned  pitifully  and  renewed  his  exertions  to  re 
lease  himself,  but  the  weight  of  two  uncommonly 
strong  men  pinioned  him  to  the  sod.  At  a  word 
from  the  ambassador  several  of  his  retinue  hastened 
to  sit  upon  the  captive's  arms  and  legs.  A  dapper 
young  secretary  acted  as  spokesman  and  inquired 
in  precise,  cultivated  English: 

"May  I  trouble  you  to  inform  His  Excellency  why 
you  make  all  this  commotion  on  his  premises?  It  is 
an  insane  person,  or  perhaps  a  burglar,  that  you 
have  in  your  custody?" 

"It  is  an  American  seafarin'  man  and  he  is  a 
friend  of  ours,"  gravely  answered  Captain  O'Shea, 
still  keeping  a  firm  grip  on  the  prostrate  Maguire. 
"He  has  behaved  himself  very  well  till  now,  but  he 
is  impolite  enough  to  dislike  the  Chinese." 

"He  is  not  correct  in  the  intellect?  Then  why 
have  you  brought  him  here?"  asked  the  secretary. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  291 

"To  show  him  to  His  Excellency,"  quoth  O'Shea. 
"'Tis  information  we  seek,  and  the  man  himself  is 
the  document  in  the  case." 

"He  turned  obstreperous  most  unexpected  and 
sudden,"  anxiously  put  in  Johnny  Kent,  "and  now 
it's  blamed  unhandy  to  show  him  to  you.  I'm  kind 
of  stumped.  What  about  it,  Cap'n  Mike?" 

The  secretary  might  have  looked  puzzled  had  he 
belonged  to  any  other  race,  but  his  face  remained 
polite  and  inscrutable  as  he  smoothly  protested: 

"Your  explanation  is  not  clear.  I  advise  you  to 
remove  all  yourselves  from  the  premises  of  His  Ex 
cellency.  He  has  no  interest  in  you." 

O'Shea  was  oblivious  of  the  absurd  tableau  in 
which  he  played  the  leading  role.  The  red-haired 
sailor  was  still  stretched  upon  the  grass,  and  his 
brace  of  stanch  friends  held  him  at  anchor.  He 
was  quieter  and  the  tempest  of  passion  had  passed. 
The  Chinese  servants  who  had  been  roosting  on  the 
outlying  parts  of  his  frame  withdrew  from  the  scene 
of  war  and  rejoined  their  comrades.  As  soon  as 
they  were  beyond  the  range  of  his  vision,  Maguire 
subsided  and  seemed  as  docile  as  of  yore. 

His  Excellency  Hao  Su  Ting  showed  his  august 
back  to  the  turbulent  intruders  and  paced  slowly 
toward  the  house.  Several  of  the  party  turned  to 
follow  him,  but  the  secretary  aforesaid,  together 
with  a  few  of  the  staff,  tarried  in  order  to  be  sure 
that  the  trio  of  invaders  left  the  place.  Captain 
Michael  O'Shea  was  not  to  be  thwarted  by  the  dis 
advantageous  situation  in  which  he  found  himself. 


292       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Hustling  Maguire  to  his  feet,  he  tried  to  drive  it  into 
him  with  strong  words  and  meaning  gestures  that  he 
must  be  obedient  and  no  harm  would  come  to  him. 
The  revolver  was  an  eloquent  argument  in  itself. 

Sensible  Johnny  Kent  turned  the  sailor  about  so 
that  he  could  see  nothing  of  the  Chinese  and  was 
facing  the  cliffs  and  the  sea.  In  this  position  the 
engineer  held  him,  while  O'Shea,  seizing  the  oppor 
tune  moment,  fairly  ripped  the  coat  off  the  man 
and  pulled  up  his  shirt  to  bare  his  back.  It  was 
dramatically  done  and  the  effect  was  instantaneous. 
Not  a  word  was  said  in  explanation.  None  was 
needed.  The  great  Chinese  character  that  spread 
between  the  man's  shoulder-blades  and  down  to 
his  waist,  showed  black  and  scarred  and  livid. 

The  secretary  and  the  other  Orientals  stood  gaz 
ing  at  it  without  moving  so  much  as  a  finger.  They 
said  nothing,  but  one  heard  their  breath  come  quick. 
A  kind  of  whistling  sigh  escaped  the  dapper  secre 
tary,  and  his  eyes  glittered  like  two  buttons  of  jet. 
He  was  striving  to  maintain  a  composure  which  had 
been  racked  to  the  foundations.  His  blood  was  of 
a  finer  strain  than  that  of  the  underlings  who  stood 
near  him,  and  he  held  his  ground  while  they  began 
to  edge  away  in  retreat.  Presently  one  of  them 
broke  into  a  run.  The  others  took  to  their  heels  in 
a  panic  route  and  scampered  toward  the  house,  their 
baggy  breeches  fluttering,  queues  whipping  the  wind, 
felt  shoes  fairly  twinkling.  From  one  of  them  came 
back  a  shrill,  wailing,  "Ai  oh." 

They  raced  past  His  Excellency  Hao  Su  Ting, 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  293 

who  stood  aghast  at  the  gross  disregard  of  etiquette 
and  vainly  commanded  them  to  halt.  Nor  did  the 
mad  pace  slacken  until  the  last  of  them  had  dived 
to  cover.  O'Shea  forgot  his  business  and  grinned 
with  honest  enjoyment,  but  the  face  of  the  secre 
tary,  now  haggard  and  parchment-like,  recalled  him 
to  the  task  in  hand.  This  lone  Chinese  who  had 
withstood  the  desire  to  run  away  was  moving  nearer 
to  examine  the  branded  back  of  the  red-haired 
sailor. 

"Ye  have  all  the  marks  of  a  man  that  is  sick  to 
the  soul  with  fear,"  grimly  observed  O'Shea,  "but 
you  are  too  brave  to  give  up  to  it,  and  I  admire 
ye  for  it.  Tell  me,  have  you  ever  seen  a  man 
scarred  like  that  before?" 

The  secretary  spoke  with  a  visible  effort,  and  his 
voice  had  the  rasping  edge  of  intense  excitement. 

"Yes,  I  have  seen  that  character,  symbol,  what 
ever  you  will  call  it — in  my  own  country.  It  is 
most  shocking,  amazing,  to  behold  it  in  this  way, 
inflicted  upon  an  American." 

"Do  you  need  to  look  at  it  any  longer?  Can  ye 
remember  it?  Will  I  show  it  to  His  Excellency?" 
demanded  O'Shea. 

"I  cannot  forget  it,"  slowly  replied  the  other. 
"No,  it  is  not  necessary  to  show  it  to  the  ambassador. 
I  assure  you  it  is  not  necessary.  I  shall  inform  him 
that  I  have  seen  it.  He  will  know  what  it  is.  I 
wish  very  much  that  it  may  not  be  seen  by  his  illus 
trious  self." 

The  words  and  manner  of  the  secretary  conveyed 


294       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

the  weightiest  earnestness.  He  was  in  an  agony  of 
dread  lest  Hao  Su  Ting  should  return  and  view  the 
spectacle  of  the  branded  man.  O'Shea  pitied  his 
distress  and  was  shrewd  enough  to  perceive  that 
nothing  would  be  gained  by  opposing  him.  Maguire 
was  restless,  and  Johnny  Kent  had  trouble  in  stick 
ing  fast  to  him. 

"Walk  him  along  toward  the  railroad  station," 
said  O'Shea  to  his  comrade.  "He  will  give  you  no 
bother  once  he  makes  his  offing  and  goes  clear  of  this 
Chinese  colony.  Here's  the  gun,  if  ye  need  to  per 
suade  him  a  bit.  Wait  for  me  there,  Johnny.  This 
young  man  from  Cathay  will  have  a  talk  with  me." 

"It  looks  as  if  you  had  sort  of  started  things, 
Cap'n  Mike.  Aye,  aye,  I'll  take  Bill  in  tow  and 
run  to  moorings  with  him  till  you  throw  up  signal 
rockets." 

With  this  reply,  which  betokened  excellent  disci 
pline,  the  engineer  grasped  the  sailor-man  by  the 
arm,  and  marched  him  into  the  road.  O'Shea  and 
the  secretary  were  about  to  resume  their  conversa 
tion  when  the  latter 's  attention  was  caught  by  the 
beckoning  gesture  of  the  Chinese  ambassador,  who 
seemed  impatient. 

"His  Excellency  wishes  to  ask  me  why  there  was 
so  much  unseemly  excitement  by  his  servants,"  said 
the  young  man.  "I  would  prefer  first  to  talk  with 
you,  but  his  command  must  be  obeyed.  Your  name? 
Thank  you.  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  acquaint 
ing  Captain  O'Shea  with  the  ambassador  of  China 
to  the  United  States." 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  295 

"  Tis  no  pleasure  for  any  one  concerned,  to  judge 
by  the  symptoms,"  replied  the  shipmaster. 

"I  agree  with  you,  my  dear  sir.  But  it  is  some 
thing  to  have  spared  His  Excellency  the  sight  of  the 
disfigurement  which  is  written  on  the  back  of  your 
most  unfortunate  friend." 

"Maybe  the  ambassador  could  see  it  from  where 
he  stood,"  suggested  O'Shea. 

"No.  His  eyes  are  not  of  the  best  without  spec 
tacles.  He  is  not  a  young  man  and  his  health  is 
inferior.  To  shock  him  by  the  sight  of  something 
dreadful  to  see  might  have  unhappy  consequences." 

"But  what  is  the  answer?  Why  was  every  man 
of  you  bowled  off  his  feet?"  exclaimed  O'Shea. 
"'Tis  not  the  way  of  your  people  to  be  afraid  of 
scars  and  wounds.  Ye  deal  out  some  pretty  tough 
punishments  to  your  criminals." 

"It  is  advisable  that  you  should  pay  your  respects 
to  His  Excellency,"  evasively  returned  the  Chinese. 

The  ambassador  regarded  Captain  O'Shea  with 
an  unfriendly  stare  until  the  secretary,  with  many 
low  bows,  held  rapid  converse  with  the  personage 
in  his  own  language.  The  elderly  statesman  and 
diplomat  grunted  incredulously,  shook  his  head  in 
vehement  contradiction,  and  O'Shea  conjectured 
that  he  was  roundly  scolding  the  young  man  for 
bringing  him  such  an  impossible  yarn.  At  length 
he  yielded  with  a  frown  of  annoyance  and  briefly 
addressed  the  shipmaster. 

"  I  speak  not  much  English.  Come  into  my  house, 
please." 


296       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

He  preceded  them  into  a  large  library  with  many 
long  windows  screened  by  bamboo  shades.  Passing 
through  this,  he  entered  a  smaller  room  more  con 
venient  for  privacy.  The  threshold  was  a  boundary 
between  the  Occident  and  the  Orient.  The  library 
looked,  for  the  most  part,  as  though  it  belonged  in 
a  handsome  summer-place  of  the  New  England 
coast,  but  this  smaller  room  was  as  foreign  as  the 
ambassador  himself.  The  air  was  heavy  with  the 
smell  of  sandal-wood.  The  massive  table  and  chairs 
were  of  teak  and  ebony  cunningly  carved.  The 
walls  were  hung  with  embroideries  of  crimson  and 
gold,  on  which  grotesque  dragons  writhed  in  intri 
cate  convolutions.  The  pieces  of  porcelain,  jade, 
and  cloisonne*  were  not  many,  but  they  had  been 
fashioned  by  the  artists  of  dead  dynasties  and  were 
almost  beyond  price.  Upon  a  long  panel  of  silk  was 
displayed  a  row  of  Chinese  characters  cut  from  black 
velvet  and  sewn  to  the  fabric.  They  were  merely 
the  symbols  of  good  fortune  commonly  to  be  found 
in  such  an  environment  as  this,  a  sort  of  equivalent 
of  the  old-fashioned  motto,  "God  Bless  Our  Home," 
but  to  Captain  Michael  O'Shea  they  carried  an  un 
comfortable  suggestion  of  the  handiwork  done  upon 
the  back  of  Bill  Maguire. 

His  Excellency  Hao  Su  Ting  seated  himself  beside 
the  table,  deliberately  put  on  his  round  spectacles 
with  heavy  tortoise-shell  rims,  and  tucked  his  hands 
inside  his  flowing  sleeves.  The  deferential  secre 
tary  stood  waiting  for  him  to  speak.  O'Shea  fidg 
eted  and  yearned  to  break  the  silence.  The  air 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  297 

had  turned  chill  with  an  east  wind  that  blew  strong 
and  damp  from  the  sea.  Nevertheless  the  ambas 
sador  found  it  necessary  to  take  a  handkerchief 
from  his  sleeve  and  wipe  the  little  beads  of  perspira 
tion  from  his  bald  brow.  O'Shea  made  note  of  it, 
and  wondered  what  powerful  emotion  moved  be 
hind  the  round  spectacles  and  calm,  benignant  coun 
tenance  of  the  diplomat. 

At  length  he  spoke  to  the  secretary  in  Chinese 
and  indicated  O'Shea  with  a  slow  wave  of  the  hand. 
The  young  man  translated  with  some  unreadiness 
as  though  endeavoring  to  bring  the  words  within 
the  bounds  of  courtesy. 

"His  Excellency  says  that  it  is  impossible,  that 
you  are  mistaken.  He  is  not  convinced." 

"He  calls  me  a  liar?"  and  O'Shea's  sense  of  humor 
was  stirred.  With  his  easy,  boyish  laugh  he  added: 
"'Tis  your  own  reputation  for  veracity  that  needs 
overhaulin',  me  lad.  Your  own  two  eyes  have  seen 
the  thing.  I  had  the  proof,  but  ye  would  not  let 
me  take  the  two-legged  document  by  the  collar  and 
fetch  him  to  the  house." 

The  ambassador  turned  to  the  table  at  his  elbow. 
Upon  it  was  an  ink  box  and  a  soft  brush  used  for 
writing  his  own  language.  From  a  drawer  he  with 
drew  a  sheet  of  rice-paper.  Shoving  these  toward 
O'Shea,  he  said  something  and  the  secretary  ex 
plained  : 

"He  wishes  you  to  write  what  it  is  like,  the  thing 
that  I  also  have  seen.  Please  be  good  enough  to 
oblige." 


298       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

The  brand  was  etched  in  O'Shea's  memory.  With 
out  hesitation  he  picked  up  the  brush  and  blazoned 
the  character  in  broad,  firm  strokes.  For  perhaps 
a  minute  His  Excellency  gazed  at  it.  Then  he  caught 
up  the  sheet  of  rice-paper  and  tore  it  into  small 
fragments. 

"He  is  now  convinced  that  you  and  I  speak  truth," 
the  secretary  murmured  in  O'Shea's  ear. 

"Well  and  good.  He  looks  as  if  it  made  him  un 
well.  Now  can  we  get  down  to  business  and  tackle 
the  mystery  of  it?  It  is  Chinese  writing.  What 
does  it  mean?  That  is  me  errand." 

His  Excellency  Hao  Su  Ting  no  longer  resembled 
a  round-faced  Buddha  seated  in  reposeful  medita 
tion  upon  a  throne  of  teak-wood.  The  words  came 
from  him  in  a  torrential  flow,  and  the  harsh,  sing 
song  intonations  were  terribly  in  earnest.  It  was 
a  harangue  that  warned,  expostulated,  lamented 
with  all  the  fervor  of  an  issue  that  concerned  life 
and  death.  It  startled  O'Shea  to  behold  a  man  of 
his  unemotional  race,  and  one  so  hedged  about  with 
the  dignity  of  rank,  in  this  stormy  tide  of  feeling. 
It  ceased  abruptly.  The  old  man  sank  into  his 
chair  and  closed  his  eyes.  The  secretary  rang  a 
gong  for  a  servant  and  ordered  tea.  Presently  the 
ambassador  signified  that  he  wished  to  retire  to  a 
couch,  and  others  of  his  staff  attended  him  into  the 
library  and  thence  to  an  upper  floor  of  the  house. 

The  secretary  returned  to  join  O'Shea  and  began 
to  explain  in  his  measured,  monotonous  way: 

"I  will  now  inform  you  as  much  as  it  is  permitted 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  299 

to  know.  It  disappoints  you,  I  am  aware,  that  his 
Excellency  is  unable  to  translate  the  writing  char 
acter  which  has  made  so  much  disturbance.  Nor 
can  I  translate  it,  either  into  Chinese  or  English 
words.  My  language  is  what  you  call  arbitrary, 
built  up  of  symbols,  not  letters.  This  particular 
character  has  been  invented  to  signify  some  secret 
purpose.  It  has  the  root-sign  for  man,  and  also  the 
two  curved  lines  which  mean  a  sending,  a  message. 
The  rest  of  it  is  hidden  from  us.  His  Excellency  is 
a  scholar  of  the  highest  grade  among  the  literati  of 
China.  This  character,  as  a  whole,  he  has  never 
been  able  to  find  in  the  classics  or  the  dictionaries." 

More  puzzled  than  ever,  O'Shea  broke  in  to  de 
mand: 

"But  if  nobody  knows  what  it  means,  why  does 
the  sight  of  it  start  a  full-sized  panic?" 

"Many  men  in  China  have  been  found  dead,  and 
upon  their  backs  had  been  hacked  with  a  sword  this 
strange  character.  It  was  thus  that  the  own  brother 
of  His  Excellency  was  discovered,  in  the  court-yard 
of  his  house." 

"I  begin  to  see  daylight,"  said  O'Shea. 

"Ah,  there  is  only  the  blackest  darkness,"  gravely 
replied  the  secretary.  "The  branded  men  have  not 
been  coolies,  but  officials,  merchants,  people  of  sta 
tion.  No  precautions  avail.  It  smites  them  like 
the  lightning  from  the  sky.  The  fear  of  it  walks 
everywhere.  And  now  it  has  crossed  the  sea  like  an 
evil  shadow." 

"That  is  not  quite  right,"  was  the  matter-of-fact 


300       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

comment.  "Poor  Bill  Maguire  got  it  in  China  and 
brought  it  with  him.  'Tis  not  likely  to  trouble  you." 

"Never  have  we  heard  of  a  man  who  lived  and 
walked  with  this  mark  upon  his  back,  Captain  O'Shea. 
All  those  to  whom  this  fate  has  happened  were  in 
fallibly  dead.  When  they  beheld  it  this  afternoon, 
some  of  our  people  believed  they  gazed  upon  a  red- 
haired  ghost.  I  am  an  educated  man,  a  graduate 
of  Oxford  University,  but  I  tell  you  my  blood  turned 
to  water  and  my  heart  was  squeezed  tight." 

"My  friend  Maguire  is  hard  to  kill,"  said  O'Shea. 
"I  tried  it  meself.  So  he  was  put  on  the  list  by  this 
damnable  whatever-it-is,  and  the  autograph  was 
carved  on  him,  and  he  was  left  for  dead!  Can  ye 
tell  me  any  more?" 

"It  is  not  in  my  power  to  enlighten  you.  I  have 
known  of  men  who  found  this  character  painted  on 
the  posts  of  their  gate-ways.  They  surrounded 
themselves  with  soldiers  and  hired  guards.  They 
moved  not  from  within  their  own  walls.  And  they 
could  not  save  themselves.  They  died  as  I  have 
described  it  to  you." 

"  I  have  listened  to  pleasanter  yarns.  I  am  greatly 
obliged  to  ye,"  and  O'Shea  was  ready  to  take  his 
departure.  "I  am  afraid  I  will  know  no  more  unless 
Bill  Maguire  uncorks  himself  and  confides  the  story 
of  his  life." 

"When  the  time  comes  it  will  interest  me  greatly 
to  be  informed  of  it,"  said  the  secretary,  offering 
his  hand. 

"Pass  me  kind  regards  to  His  Excellency  and  give 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  301 

him  my  regrets  that  I  jolted  his  nervous  system.  He 
is  a  fine  old  gentleman." 

The  shipmaster  hastened  on  foot  to  the  railroad 
station,  where  Johnny  Kent  was  patiently  and  peace 
fully  awaiting  orders.  The  red-haired  sailor  was  sit 
ting  on  a  baggage  truck  and  munching  peanuts.  At 
sight  of  O'Shea  he  grinned  in  recognition  and  waved 
a  greeting  hand.  The  engineer  was  eager  for  tidings, 
but  a  train  was  almost  due  and  he  was  briefly  as 
sured: 

"'Tis  a  bugaboo  tale,  Johnny,  and  we  will  digest 
it  at  our  leisure.  And  how  has  Pill  behaved  him 
self?" 

"As  good  as  gold,  Cap'n  Mike.  But  there's  some 
thing  goin'  on  inside  him.  His  eye  looks  brighter 
and  he  has  mumbled  to  himself  several  times.  I 
dunno  whether  he's  primin'  himself  for  another  ex 
plosion  or  kind  of  rememberin'  himself  in  spots. 
Anyhow,  he  has  symptoms." 

"We  will  steer  him  home  as  soon  as  we  can, 
Johnny.  He  has  enjoyed  an  exciting  afternoon." 

The  locomotive  whistled  and  a  few  minutes  later 
they  filed  into  the  smoking-car.  O'Shea  fished  out 
a  black  cigar  and  his  comrade  rammed  a  charge  of 
cut  plug  into  his  old  clay  pipe.  No  sooner  had  they 
lighted  matches  than  their  irresponsible  protege" 
reached  over  and  snatched  them  away.  Instead  of 
trying  to  set  fire  to  the  car  or  to  the  abundant 
whiskers  of  the  old  gentleman  across  the  aisle  he 
flung  the  matches  on  the  floor  and  stamped  them 
with  his  heel.  His  guardians  regarded  him  with  puz- 


302        ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

zled  surprise,  and  were  not  quick  enough  to  restrain 
him  before  he  surged  among  the  passengers  and 
plucked  from  their  faces  every  lighted  cigar,  ciga 
rette,  and  pipe.  These  he  rudely  made  way  with  by 
grinding  them  under  his  feet  or  tossing  them  through 
the  windows. 

The  persons  thus  outraged  were  for  assaulting 
him  until  they  perceived  the  width  of  his  shoulders, 
the  depth  of  his  chest,  and  the  color  of  his  hair. 
The  shipmaster  and  the  engineer  tackled  him  like 
a  brace  of  foot-ball  players,  yanked  him  back  to 
his  seat,  and  calmed  the  ruffled  travellers  with 
explanations  and  offers  to  pay  damages.  The  blue 
eye  of  Bill  Maguire  was  alertly  roving  to  detect  the 
first  sign  of  smoke,  and  during  the  remainder  of  his 
journey  no  one  dared  to  burn  the  hazy  incense  of 
tobacco. 

"You're  a  great  man  for  theories,  Cap'n  Mike," 
quoth  the  bewildered  engineer.  "Can  you  figger 
what's  happened  to  Bill?" 

"I  am  on  a  lee  shore  this  time,  Johnny.  I  would 
call  him  a  firebug  no  longer.  He  has  turned  himself 
into  a  fire  department." 

"That's  precisely  it,"  excitedly  cried  the  other. 
"And  here's  how  I  explain  it.  He's  had  some  mighty 
violent  experiences  during  the  last  twenty-four  hours, 
what  with  your  tryin'  to  knock  his  head  off  and 
runnin'  him  afoul  of  those  Chinamen  which  is  his 
pet  aversion.  His  intellect  has  jarred  a  mite  loose 
from  its  dead  centre,  but  one  cog  slipped  into  reverse 
gear.  In  place  of  settin'  fires,  he  wants  to  put  'em 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  303 

out.  His  machinery  ain't  adjusted  right,  but  it's 
movin'.  Instead  of  starting  ahead  on  this  confla 
gration  theory  of  his,  he  goes  full  speed  astern." 

"You  are  a  knowing  old  barnacle,"  admiringly 
exclaimed  O'Shea.  "This  ought  to  make  Bill  an 
easier  problem  to  handle.  The  strain  of  keeping 
up  with  him  begins  to  tell  on  me." 

"Pshaw,  Cap'n  Mike,  I'll  set  him  to  work  on  the 
farm  if  this  latest  spell  sticks  to  him." 

They  drove  home  from  the  village  in  the  twilight. 
The  Perkins  boy  had  tarried  to  do  the  chores  and 
kindle  a  fire  for  supper.  He  fled  without  his  hat 
when  the  big,  silent,  red-haired  stranger  marched 
into  the  kitchen,  halted  to  look  at  the  blazing  grate, 
and  promptly  caught  up  a  pail  of  water  from  the 
sink  and  flooded  the  stove.  Johnny  Kent  entered 
a  moment  later  and  gazed  aghast  at  the  dripping, 
sizzling  embers.  Then  his  common-sense  got  the 
better  of  his  annoyance  and  he  shouted  to  O'Shea: 

"Bill's  gear  is  still  reversed.  Coax  him  out  on  the 
porch  and  hold  him  there  while  I  get  supper.  He 
just  put  the  stove  awash." 

O'Shea  laughed  and  took  charge  of  the  derelict, 
while  Johnny  locked  the  kitchen  doors  and  windows 
and  rekindled  the  fire.  Freed  from  the  fear  that  the 
cottage  and  barn  might  go  up  in  smoke,  the  com 
rades  enjoyed  a  quiet  evening.  Maguire  was  dis 
posed  of  in  the  attic  bedroom  and  insisted  on  going 
to  bed  in  the  dark. 

"He  will  not  wander  away,"  said  O'Shea.  "His 
wits  are  in  a  sad  mess,  but  he  knows  he  has  found 
a  friendly  anchorage." 


304        ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

They  felt  the  need  of  sleep,  and  Johnny  Kent  was 
yawning  before  he  had  heard  the  end  of  the  inter 
view  with  His  Excellency  Hao  Su  Ting.  It  enter 
tained  him,  but  the  edge  of  his  interest  was  blunted. 
The  hapless  sailor  in  the  attic  had  been  struck  down 
and  mutilated  by  some  secret  organization  of  Chinese 
assassins,  and  there  was  no  finding  out  the  meaning 
of  the  brand  upon  his  back.  It  was  their  trade 
mark.  This  was  explanation  enough.  It  satisfied 
the  engineer's  curiosity.  He  had  no  great  amount 
of  imagination,  and  although  he  was  ready  to  share 
his  last  dollar  with  the  helpless  Maguire,  he  felt  no 
further  call  to  pursue  the  mystery  of  his  wrongs. 

Captain  O'Shea  was  very  differently  affected.  He 
had  not  forsaken  the  quest  of  adventure.  His  soul 
was  not  content  with  cabbages  and  cows.  The  world 
beyond  the  horizon  was  always  calling  in  his  ears. 
As  children  are  fond  of  fairy-stories,  so  his  fancy 
was  lured  by  the  bizarre,  the  unexpected,  the  un 
known.  Your  true  adventurer  is,  after  all,  only  a 
boy  who  has  never  grown  up.  His  desires  are  wholly 
unreasonable  and  he  sets  a  scandalous  example.  If 
you  had  asked  him  the  question,  this  rattle-headed 
shipmaster  would  have  frankly  answered  that  noth 
ing  could  give  him  more  enjoyment  than  to  sail  for 
China  and  try  to  discover  how  and  why  the  brand 
had  been  put  on  Maguire.  Besides,  he  had  an 
Irishman's  habit  of  taking  over  another  man's 
quarrel. 

"Poor  Bill  cannot  square  it  himself,"  reflected 
O'Shea.  "'Tis  the  duty  of  some  one  to  undertake 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  305 

it  for  him.  It  makes  an  honest  man's  blood  boil 
to  think  of  the  black  wickedness  that  was  done  to 
him.  As  long  as  the  heathen  are  contented  to  mur 
der  one  another  'tis  no  business  of  mine.  But  an 
American  sailorman — and  maybe  he  is  not  the  only 


one." 


When  he  went  downstairs  in  the  morning,  Johnny 
Kent  was  in  the  barricaded  kitchen  and  Maguire 
paced  the  porch  with  the  air  of  a  man  physically 
refreshed.  He  paid  no  heed  to  O'Shea,  who  was 
amazed  to  discover  that  he  was  talking  to  himself. 
The  sounds  he  made  were  no  longer  inarticulate,  but 
words  and  fragments  of  sentences  curiously  jumbled. 
In  the  stress  of  great  excitement  he  had  previously 
spoken  with  brief  coherence,  only  to  lapse  into  dumb 
ness.  Now,  however,  with  no  sudden  stimulus  to 
flash  a  ray  of  light  into  his  darkened  mind,  he  was 
beginning  to  find  himself,  to  grope  for  expression 
like  a  child  painfully  and  clumsily  learning  to  read. 
To  the  listening  O'Shea  it  sounded  like  heaping 
phrases  together  in  a  basket  and  fishing  them  out 
at  random. 

The  sailor's  voice  had  lost  much  of  its  harshness. 
Its  tones  were  rather  deep  and  pleasant.  Swinging 
his  long  arms  as  he  walked,  he  kept  repeating  such 
disjointed  ideas  as  these: 

"Heave  her  short — eleven  dollars  Mex — no,  Paddy 
Blake — a  big  wax  doll — all  clear  forward,  sir — 
stinking  river — roll  the  dice — the  painted  joss — a  year 
from  home — way  enough — Wang  Li  Fu — die  like 
rats — sampan,  ahoy — no  more  drinks — good-by, 


306       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Mary  dear — in  the  paint  locker — the  head-devil — 
fish  and  potatoes." 

It  made  O'Shea  feel  dizzy  to  listen  to  this  inter 
minable  nonsense,  but  he  followed  it  most  atten 
tively,  and  stole  behind  a  lilac-bush  lest  Maguire 
should  spy  him  and  be  diverted  from  his  mad  solilo 
quy.  For  some  time  there  was  no  catching  hold 
of  a  clew,  but  at  length  the  shrewd  shipmaster  began 
to  sift  out  certain  phrases  which  were  emphasized 
by  reiteration.  They  were,  hi  a  way,  the  motif  of 
the  jargon,  hinting  of  impressions  most  clearly 
stamped  on  the  man's  mind. 

He  mentioned  again  and  again  "the  painted  joss," 
and  occasionally  coupled  it  with  reference  to  "the 
stinking  river"  Stress  seemed  to  be  laid  also  on 
the  proper  name  Wang  Li  Fu.  Many  of  the  other 
fragments  O'Shea  discarded  as  worthless.  Some  of 
them  related  to  routine  duties  on  shipboard.  He 
hazarded  a  guess  that  the  sailor  was  a  married  man. 
At  any  rate,  he  had  left  a  "  Mary  dear,"  and  it  was  a 
plausible  conjecture  that  he  had  promised  to  bring 
home  "a  big  wax  doll." 

When  Maguire  became  silent  O'Shea  made  for 
the  kitchen  and  hammered  on  the  door. 

"Is  that  you,  Cap'n  Mike?"  responded  the  per 
turbed  accents  of  Johnny  Kent.  "  If  it's  Bill,  he  can 
stay  out  till  breakfast's  cooked.  I  don't  want  my 
stove  drownded  again." 

Reassured,  he  cautiously  admitted  the  shipmaster 
who  pounded  him  on  the  back  and  shouted : 

"Bill  has  been  leakin'  language  from  every  pore. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  307 

'Tis  all  snarled  up  most  comical,  but  I  seem  to  get 
hold  of  a  loose  end  now  and  then." 

" Hooray,  Cap'n  Mike!  It's  just  as  I  said. 
When  you  hit  him  over  the  ear  it  sort  of  jarred 
his  brain  loose.  It  ain't  fetched  clear  yet,  but  he's 
begun  to  make  steam  in  his  crazy  fashion.  What 
does  he  say?" 

"Wait  till  I  tow  him  in  to  breakfast  and  maybe  he 
will  start  up  again." 

But  Maguire  ate  in  silence  and  O'Shea  could  not 
persuade  him  to  pick  up  the  rambling  monologue. 
Johnny  Kent  therefore  escorted  the  sailor  to  the 
garden,  gave  him  a  hoe,  and  thriftily  set  him  to 
work.  He  fell  to  with  the  greatest  good-will  and 
showed  an  aptitude  which  betokened  an  earlier  ac 
quaintance  with  this  form  of  husbandry. 

After  a  discussion  of  some  length  the  engineer 
exclaimed: 

"You're  a  bright  man,  Cap'n  Mike,  but  you 
haven't  knocked  around  the  Chinese  ports  as  much 
as  I  have.  Bill  mentioned  one  or  two  things  that 
I  can  elucidate.  Paddy  Blake, 'eh?  So  he  knows 
Paddy  Blake.  The  blackguard  runs  a  sailors'  rum- 
shop  in  Shanghai.  It's  just  off  the  Bund,  as  you 
turn  up  the  street  that's  next  to  the  French  Conces 
sion.  I've  rolled  the  dice  for  drinks  there  myself 
and  blown  my  wages  and  mixed  up  in  some  free-for- 
all  rights  that  would  have  done  your  heart  good." 

";Tis  a  glimpse  into  the  fog,  Johnny.  Maybe 
this  rapscallion  of  a  Paddy  Blake  would  know  poor 
old  Bill  if  he  had  a  description  of  him.  We  can  guess 


308       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

at  some  of  the  rest  of  it.  Bill  went  up  a  Chinese 
river  somewhere  and  got  in  black  trouble  ashore. 
It  had  to  do  with  a  temple  and  a  joss." 

"One  of  them  big  carved  wooden  idols,  Cap'n 
Mike,  painted  all  red  and  yellow  and  white." 

"And  it  looks  to  me  as  if  he  stumbled  into  a  head 
quarters  of  this  bunch  of  thugs  that  has  been  deal 
ing  out  sudden  death  to  prominent  Chinese  citizens, 
Johnny.  Anyhow,  he  ran  afoul  of  some  kind  of  a 
'head-devil,'  as  he  calls  it,  and  was  left  for  dead." 

"Then  it's  possible  that  Bill  knows  the  secret  of 
this  organization  of  cock-eyed  murderers,"  excitedly 
cried  the  engineer. 

"The  same  notion  is  in  me  own  mind,"  replied 
O'Shea. 

A  dusty  man  just  then  rode  a  bicycle  into  the 
door-yard  and  dismounted  to  give  the  shipmaster  a 
yellow  envelope. 

"I  guess  you're  Captain  Michael  O'Shea,"  said 
he.  "The  station  agent  got  this  telegram  for  you 
and  asked  me  to  stop  and  deliver  it,  seem'  as  I  was 
passin'  this  way.  How  are  you,  Mr.  Kent?  Seen 
anything  of  that  pesky  firebug?  I  see  you've  got  a 
new  hired  man  in  the  garden." 

"I'm  thankful  to  say  the  firebug  is  letting  me 
alone,"  gravely  answered  the  engineer. 

"I  cal'late  he  heard  the  selectmen  had  offered  a 
reward  for  him  and  he  lit  out  of  this  neighborhood." 

The  messenger  departed,  and  Captain  O'Shea, 
glancing  at  the  telegram,  crumpled  it  in  his  fist  and 
vouchsafed  with  a  laugh : 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  309 

"'Tis  from  the  man  in  New  York,  the  agent  in 
charge  of  that  voyage  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  For 
political  reasons  the  job  is  postponed  a  matter  of 
six  months  or  so,  and  maybe  it  will  be  declared  off 
altogether.  The  charter  is  cancelled  and  my  con 
tract  along  with  it." 

"I  suppose  you're  disappointed,"  sympathetically 
began  Johnny  Kent. 

"Not  so  I  shed  tears.  Something  else  will  turn 
up.  And  'tis  me  chance  to  take  a  vacation,  Johnny. 
Thanks  to  our  salvage  job  with  the  Alsatian  liner, 
I  have  more  money  than  is  good  for  me." 

"Now's  your  chance  to  buy  that  next  farm  and 
get  it  under  way,"  and  the  portly  mariner  was  elated. 

O'Shea  eyed  his  comrade  as  if  suspecting  that  he 
shared  the  melancholy  affliction  of  Bill  Maguire. 

"You  mean  well,  Johnny,"  said  he,  "but  you  are 
subject  to  delusions.  I  will  enjoy  a  vacation  after 
me  own  heart.  With  the  money  that  burns  holes 
in  me  pockets,  I  will  go  frolickin'  out  to  China  and 
do  me  best  to  find  out  what  happened  to  Bill  Ma 
guire.  I  suppose  I  cannot  coax  ye  to  go  with  me." 

"Pshaw,  Cap'n  Mike!"  and  the  honest  farmer 
looked  surprised.  "I've  engaged  a  gang  of  men  to 
begin  cuttin'  my  hay  next  week.  And  who's  to 
look  after  poor  old  Bill?  I  can't  seem  to  beat  it 
into  your  head  that  I've  turned  respectable.  The 
wilder  the  job,  the  better  you  like  it." 

"I  have  taken  quite  a  fancy  to  this  one,"  and 
O'Shea's  eyes  were  dancing.  "It  has  been  haunt 
ing  me,  in  a  way,  ever  since  I  caught  sight  of  the 


310       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

cruel  brand  and  listened  to  the  yarn  of  those  Chinese 
gentlemen.  As  one  seafarin'  man  to  another,  I  will 
do  what  I  can  to  square  the  account  of  Bill  Maguire." 

"It's  the  first  time  I  ever  laid  down  on  you," 
sighed  Johnny  Kent. 

"I  do  not  hold  it  against  ye,"  warmly  returned 
Captain  O'Shea.  "And  maybe  you  ought  to  stand 
watch  over  Bill.  It  would  be  cruel  to  lug  him  out 
to  China,  for  the  sight  of  a  pigtail  gives  him  acute 
fits.  And  he  would  turn  crazier  than  ever.  Well, 
I  wilt  go  it  alone  this  time,  Johnny.  'Tis  a  most 
foolish  adventure,  and  by  the  same  token  it  pleases 
me  a  lot." 

Ill 

STEAMERS  flying  the  flags  of  many  nations  were 
anchored  in  the  Woosung  River  off  the  water-front 
of  Shanghai.  High-pooped  junks  tacked  past  them 
and  cargo  lighters  manned  by  half-naked  coolies 
drifted  with  the  muddy  tide.  In  a  handsome,  sol 
idly  fashioned  perspective  extended  the  European 
quarter  of  the  city,  as  unlike  the  real  China  as 
London  or  New  York.  Turbanned  Sikh  policemen, 
tall  and  dignified,  in  soldierly  khaki  and  puttees, 
strolled  through  the  clean,  well-paved  streets.  Eng 
lish,  French,  and  German  merchants  clad  in  white 
were  spun  around  corners  in  'rickshaws  pulled  by 
sweating  natives  muscled  like  race-horses.  Tourists 
lounged  on  the  piazzas  of  the  Astor  House  or  ex 
plored  the  shops  filled  with  things  rare  and  curious. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  311 

Unseen  and  unperceived  was  the  native  city  of 
Shanghai,  incredibly  filthy  and  overcrowded,  con 
taining  a  half-million  souls  within  its  lantern-hung 
streets  and  paper-walled  tenements. 

Near  the  river,  at  the  end  of  the  English  quarter 
farthest  removed  from  the  parks  and  pretentious 
hotels,  was  a  row  of  small,  shabby  brick  buildings 
which  might  have  belonged  in  Wapping  or  the  Rat- 
cliff  Road.  There  was  nothing  picturesquely  for 
eign  about  them  or  their  environment.  Two  or 
three  were  sailors'  lodging-houses,  and  another  was 
the  tumultuous  tavern  ruled  over  by  Paddy  Blake. 
Here  seafarers  swore  in  many  tongues  and  got  drunk 
each  in  his  own  fashion,  but  Paddy  Blake  treated 
them  all  alike.  When  their  wages  were  gone  he 
threw  them  out  or  bundled  them  off  to  ships  that 
needed  men,  and  took  his  blood-money  like  the 
thorough-going  crimp  that  he  was. 

On  this  night  the  place  was  well  filled.  A  versa 
tile  cabin  steward  off  a  Pacific  liner  was  lustily 
thumping  the  battered  tin  pan  of  a  piano.  Six 
couples  of  hairy  seamen,  British  and  Norwegian, 
were  waltzing  with  so  much  earnestness  that  the 
floor  was  cleared  as  by  a  hurricane.  Cards  and 
dice  engaged  the  attention  of  several  groups  seated 
about  the  tables  by  the  wall.  In  blurred  outline, 
as  discerned  through  the  fog  of  tobacco  smoke,  a 
score  of  patrons  lined  the  bar  and  bought  bad  rum 
with  good  coin.  For  the  moment  peace  reigned  and 
never  a  fist  was  raised. 

Captain  Michael  O'Shea  sauntered  in  during  this 


312        ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

calm  between  storms.  The  dingy  room  and  its  sor 
did  amusements  had  a  familiar  aspect.  It  was  pre 
cisely  like  the  resorts  of  other  seaports  as  he  had 
known  them  during  his  wild  young  years  before  the 
mast.  The  bar-tender  was  a  pasty-faced  youth  who 
replied  to  O'Shea's  interrogation  concerning  Paddy 
Blake: 

"The  old  man  has  stepped  out  for  a  couple  of 
hours.  He  had  a  bit  of  business  aboard  a  vessel 
in  the  stream.  Will  you  wait  for  him?  If  you're 
lookin'  for  able  seamen  he  can  find  'em  for  you." 

"I  have  no  doubt  of  it,"  said  O'Shea,  "and  he  will 
bring  them  aboard  feet  first.  Fetch  me  a  bottle  of 
ginger-ale  to  the  table  in  the  corner  yonder  and  I 
will  wait  awhile." 

The  wall  of  the  room  was  broken  by  a  small  al 
cove  which  made  a  nook  a  little  apart  from  the  play 
ful  mariners.  Here  O'Shea  smoked  his  pipe  and 
sipped  his  glass  and  was  diverted  by  the  noisy  talk 
of  ships  and  ports.  .At  a  small  table  near  by  sat  a 
man,  also  alone,  who  appeared  to  be  in  a  most  mel 
ancholy  frame  of  mind.  Discouragement  was  writ 
ten  on  his  stolid,  reddened  face,  in  the  wrinkles  of 
the  worn  gray  tweed  clothes,  in  the  battered  shape 
of  the  slouch  hat. 

O'Shea  surmised  that  he  was  a  beach-comber  who 
had  seen  better  days,  and  surveyed  him  with  some 
curiosity,  for  the  man  wiped  his  eyes  with  the  back 
of  his  hand,  his  lip  quivered,  and  once  he  was  unable 
to  suppress  an  audible  sob.  To  find  a  sturdily  built 
man  of  middle-age  weeping  alone  in  a  corner  of  a 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  313 

sailor's  grog-shop  led  one  to  conclude  that  alcohol 
had  made  him  maudlin.  But  he  did  not  look  intox 
icated,  although  dissipation  had  left  its  marks  on 
him.  O'Shea  conjectured  that  he  might  be  suffer 
ing  the  aftermath  of  a  spree  which  had  broken  his 
nerves  and  left  him  weak  and  womanish.  In  such 
a  pitiable  plight,  the  contemplation  of  his  own  woes 
had  moved  him  to  tears. 

Tactfully  waiting  until  the  man  had  recovered  his 
self-control,  O'Shea  nodded  with  a  cordial  smile  and 
indicated  a  chair  at  his  own  table.  The  stranger 
shifted  his  place  with  a  certain  eagerness,  as  if  he 
were  anxious  to  be  rid  of  his  own  miserable  com 
pany.  His  tremulous  hands  and  the  twitching  mus 
cles  of  his  face  prompted  O'Shea  to  say: 

"Will  you  have  something  with  me?  I  dislike 
sitting  by  meself." 

"A  small  drink  of  brandy,  if  you  please.  I  am 
trying  to  taper  off.  God  knows  I  welcome  the 
chance  to  talk  to  somebody  that  is  clean  and  sober." 

The  man's  heavy,  morose  eyes  regarded  the  ship 
master  approvingly.  Presently  he  began  to  talk 
with  fluent  coherence,  in  a  kind  of  headlong  man 
ner.  He  felt  that  he  had  found  a  kindly  listener 
and  seemed  afraid  that  O'Shea  might  desert  him 
before  the  tale  was  done. 

"I  am  on  the  beach  and  all  to  pieces  again,  as  you 
may  have  guessed,"  said  he.  "My  name  is  Mc- 
Dougal,  late  of  the  American  Trading  Company, 
but  I  couldn't  hold  the  job.  This  time  I  went  to 
smash  in  Tientsin.  It  was  queer  how  it  happened. 


I 
314       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

I  had  been  sober  and  making  good  for  nearly  six 
months.  Ever  see  a  Chinese  execution?  Well,  this 
was  an  extraordinary  affair.  A  high  official  of  the 
province  had  been  condemned  for  treason,  and  the 
government  decided  to  make  a  spectacle  of  him  as 
a  sort  of  public  warning.  The  place  was  the  big 
yard  of  the  governor's  yamen.  I  joined  the  crowd 
that  looked  on.  First  came  a  covered  cart  with 
black  curtains.  A  strapping  big  Manchu  crawled 
out  of  it.  He  was  the  executioner,  and  a  dingy  apron 
covered  with  dark-red  blotches  hung  from  his  chin 
to  his  toes. 

"Then  came  a  second  cart,  and  in  it  rode  an  old 
gentleman  who  climbed  out  and  walked  alone  to 
the  cleared  space  in  the  middle  of  the  yard.  He  was 
bent  and  feeble,  but  he  never  flinched,  and  his  dignity 
and  rank  stood  out  as  plain  as  print.  A  guard  said 
something  to  him,  and  he  took  off  his  long,  fur- 
trimmed  coat  and  knelt  on  the  filthy  flagging  and 
the  wind  whirled  the  dust  in  his  face.  He  knelt 
there,  waiting,  for  a  long  time,  motionless  except 
when  he  put  his  hand  to  his  throat  and  pulled  his 
collar  around  it  to  keep  off  the  wind. 

"A  pompous  official  read  the  death  sentence,  but 
that  wrinkled  old  face  showed  never  a  trace  of  emo 
tion.  Then  a  pair  of  the  executioner's  understrap 
pers  leaped  on  the  old  gentleman  like  wild-cats.  One 
jumped  on  his  back  and  drove  his  knees  into  him, 
while  the  other  tied  a  bit  of  cord  to  the  end  of  the 
trailing  queue  and  yanked  forward  with  all  his  might. 
It  stretched  the  old  man's  neck  like  a  turtle's.  Then 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  315 

the  big  Manchu  with  the  bloody  apron  raised  his 
straight-edged  sword  and  it  fell  like  a  flash  of  light. 
The  head  flew  off  and  bounced  into  the  lap  of  the 
fellow  that  was  tugging  at  the  queue." 

McDougal  paused  for  a  gulp  of  brandy.  His 
voice  was  unsteady  as  he  resumed: 

"I  guess  my  nerves  were  none  too  good.  A  man 
can't  go  boozing  up  and  down  the  coast  of  the  Orient 
for  a  dozen  years  without  paying  the  price.  That  sight 
was  too  much  for  me.  I  had  to  take  a  drink,  and 
then  some  more,  to  forget  it.  The  old  man  was  so 
patient  and  helpless,  his  head  bounced  off  like  an 
apple;  and  what  broke  me  up  worst  of  all  was  see 
ing  him  pull  that  coat  up  around  his  throat  so  he 
wouldn't  catch  cold — up  around  his  throat,  mind 
you.  It  was  a  little  thing,  but,  my  God,  what  did 
it  matter  if  he  caught  cold?  And  the  way  they 
hauled  and  yanked  him  about  before  his  neck  was 
—well,  I  wish  I  hadn't  seen  it. 

"Once  started,  the  old  thirst  took  hold  of  me  and 
I  wandered  down  the  coast  until  I  came  to,  sick  and 
broke,  in  a  dirty  Chinese  tea-house  in  Che-Foo.  There 
I  lay  until  one  day  there  came  from  the  street  a 
long,  booming  cry  that  crashed  through  the  high- 
pitched  clatter  of  the  crowd  like  surf  on  a  granite 
shore.  By  Jove!  it  stirred  me  like  a  battle-chant. 
It  sounded  again  and  again.  I  knew  it  must  be  a 
pedler  shouting  his  wares,  you  understand,  but  it 
surged  into  my  poor  sick  brain  as  if  it  was  meant 
for  me.  It  was  buoyant,  big,  telling  me  to  take 
heart  in  the  last  ditch.  The  words  were  Chinese,  of 


316       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

course,  but  the  odd  thing  about  it  was  that  they 
came  to  me  precisely  as  though  this  great,  deep 
voice  was  booming  in  English:  lThrow-w  all-l  re 
grets  away-y.' 

"I  presume  I  was  a  bit  delirious  at  times,  but  this 
was  what  I  heard  very  clearly,  and  it  helped  me 
wonderfully.  As  soon  as  I  got  on  my  legs  I  looked 
for  the  pedler  until  I  found  him,  and  followed  him 
through  the  streets.  Even  at  close  range  his  call 
seemed  to  be  telling  me  to  throw  all  regrets  away. 
It  was  summoning  me  to  make  a  new  start,  do  you 
see?  He  was  a  giant  of  a  fellow  in  ragged  blue 
clothes,  a  yoke  across  his  broad  shoulders  with  many 
dangling  flat  baskets.  When  he  swelled  his  chest 
and  opened  his  mouth  the  air  trembled  with  that 
tremendous  call  of  his.  I  trailed  him  to  his  tiny 
mud-walled  house,  and  we  got  quite  chummy.  I 
could  speak  his  dialect  fairly  well.  He  earned  ten 
or  fifteen  cents  a  day  and  supported  a  family  of  nine 
people  by  selling  roasted  watermelon  seeds.  He 
sang  loud  because  he  had  a  big  voice,  he  said,  and 
because  his  heart  was  honest  and  he  owed  no  man 
anything.  He  did  a  lot  to  help  me  get  a  grip  on  my 
self,  and  some  day  I  mean  to  do  something  for  him. 

"I  had  somehow  hung  on  to  my  watch,  and  I  sold 
it  and  beat  my  way  to  Shanghai  in  a  trading  steamer, 
and  here  I  am,  shaky  and  no  good  to  anybody,  but 
I  still  hear  that  cheerful  pedler  thundering  at  me  to 
throw  all  regrets  away.  One  has  some  curious  ex 
periences  on  this  coast,  and  I  have  had  many  of 
them " 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  317 

A  hand  gripped  McDougal's  shoulder,  and  he 
turned,  with  a  nervous  start,  to  confront  a  hale,  well- 
dressed  mariner  with  a  yellow  beard,  whose  eyes 
twinkled  merrily  as  he  loudly  exclaimed: 

"It  vas  mein  old  pal  what  I  haf  last  met  at  Port 
Arthur.  Ho,  ho,  McDougal,  how  goes  it  mit  you?" 

The  speaker  drew  up  a  chair,  pounded  on  the 
table  to  summon  a  waiter,  and  told  him: 

"A  bundle  of  trinks,  schell,  or  I  bite  you  in  two." 

"I'm  delighted  to  see  you  again,  Captain  Spreck- 
els,"  stammered  McDougal,  at  which  O'Shea  intro 
duced  himself,  and  the  mariner  explained  with  a 
jolly  laugh: 

"McDougal  vas  a  king  among  men.  We  haf  met 
only  one  hour  in  Port  Arthur  when  I  haf  told  him 
things  what  was  locked  so  deep  in  my  bosom  dot 
they  haf  never  before  come  up.  Perhaps  we  vas 
not  so  sober  as  now,  so?  What  you  do  with  your 
self,  McDougal?  American  Trading  Company  yet 
already?" 

"I  am  on  the  beach,  Captain  Spreckels,  and  not 
fit  to  work  at  anything  for  a  while." 

The  skipper  appeared  vastly  disturbed.  Stroking 
his  beard,  he  reflected  for  a  moment  and  then  shouted: 

"My  bark,  Wilhelmina  Augusta,  sails  for  Ham 
burg  to-morrow  morning  early.  She  is  now  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  I  vas  come  up  in  a  tug  to  find 
if  Paddy  Blake  haf  three  more  men  for  me.  Mc 
Dougal,  you  comes  mit  me.  It  vas  the  great  idea, 
eh?  The  sea- voyage  will  do  you  so  much  good  you 
will  not  know  yourself.  I  vish  to  haf  your  good 


318       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

company.  My  cabin  is  as  big  as  a  house.  It  will 
cost  you  noddings.  If  you  want  to  come  out  East 
again,  I  can  bring  you  back  next  voyage.  Listen! 
Give  me  no  arguments.  You  vas  seedy  and  down 
on  your  luck." 

McDougal  lacked  the  will  power  to  resist  this 
masterful  mandate.  And  perhaps  here  was  a  fight 
ing  chance  providentially  offered.  On  the  sweet, 
clean  sea,  far  from  the  dissolute  ports  which  had 
wrecked  his  manhood,  he  might  build  up  health  and 
strength  and  throw  all  regrets  away.  A  fit  of  ner 
vous  weakness  made  the  tears  spring  to  his  eyes, 
and  he  faltered  unevenly: 

"You  quite  bowl  me  off  my  feet,  Captain  Spreck- 
els.  I  haven't  thought  of  leaving  the  East.  But  I 
will  go  with  you  and  I  can  never  thank  you  enough. 
About  clothes  and  an  outfit,  I — 

"I  haf  more  clothes  than  a  plenty  for  two  of  us, 
McDougal.  There  is  beer  but  no  whiskey  in  my 
vessel.  I  do  not  trink  liquor  at  sea.  Come. 
Paddy  Blake  haf  left  word  mit  his  man  here  dot  my 
sailors  vas  already  sent  to  the  landing  mit  a  board 
ing-house  runner.  We  will  go  aboard  the  tug." 

With  this,  the  energetic  master  mariner  tossed 
down  a  gin  rickey,  said  adieu  to  Captain  O'Shea, 
and  whisked  McDougal  out  of  the  place  with  an 
arm  across  his  shoulders.  The  episode  made  O'Shea 
feel  slightly  bewildered.  The  unfortunate  McDou 
gal  had  appeared  and  vanished  with  an  abruptness 
that  savored  of  unreality.  His  confession  was  the 
sort  of  thing  that  might  come  to  a  man  in  a  night- 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  319 

mare.  McDougal  had  painted  the  scenes  with  a 
few  broad  strokes,  and  yet  as  O'Shea  sat  musing, 
they  seemed  astonishingly  vivid:  the  aged  Chinese 
official  pulling  his  coat  about  his  neck  just  before 
his  head  bounced  off  like  a  bloody  ball — the  ragged 
colossus  of  a  street  pedler  flinging  afar  his  resonant 
call — McDougal,  wretched  and  forlorn,  huddled  in 
the  tea-house  and  fighting  off  the  horrors.  He  had 
opened  the  book  of  his  life  and  let  O'Shea  read  a 
page  of  it,  but  there  must  have  been  many  more 
worth  knowing. 

These  reflections  were  interrupted  by  a  violent  dis 
sension  in  the  vicinity  of  the  bar.  A  British  tar 
smote  a  Scandinavian  over  the  head  with  a  bottle 
and  stretched  him  on  the  floor.  Somebody  plucked 
the  piano  stool  from  under  the  musical  cabin  steward 
and  hurled  it  at  the  aggressor.  The  missile  flew  high 
and  swept  the  bar-tender  into  his  glassware  with  a 
most  splendid  crash.  Then  hostilities  became  gen 
eral. 

The  combatants  were  too  busy  to  observe  the  en 
trance  of  a  wizened,  clerical-looking  little  man  in  a 
black  frock-coat  and  a  rusty  tall  hat.  With  a  shrill 
whoop,  he  pulled  a  slung-shot  from  his  pocket  and 
pranced  into  the  thick  of  the  scrimmage.  He  was  as 
agile  as  a  jumping-jack,  his  coat-tails  seemed  to  be 
flying  in  a  dozen  places  at  once,  and  whenever  his 
weapon  landed  a  seaman  promptly  lost  all  interest 
in  the  row  and  made  for  the  street  with  his  head  ten 
derly  held  in  his  hands.  In  the  wake  of  the  active 
little  man  peace  hovered  like  a  dove. 


320      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

With  magical  celerity  the  floor  was  cleared  of  dis 
order,  and  the  promoter  of  harmony  calmly  assisted 
the  damaged  bar-tender  to  clear  away  the  wreckage. 
Captain  O'Shea  accosted  him  when  the  task  was 
finished. 

"Paddy  Blake  is  me  name,"  the  little  man  replied 
in  a  jerky,  rasping  voice,  cocking  his  head  to  one  side. 
"The  boys  will  have  their  fun  and  I  hope  they  didn't 
annoy  ye.  The  place  will  be  quiet  for  a  bit.  What 
can  I  do  for  ye?" 

"'Tis  a  matter  of  private  business,"  answered 
O'Shea. 

"Then  come  into  the  back  room,  where  we  can  be 
sociable.  I  take  ye  for  a  shipmaster." 

"Right  you  are;  but  I  have  no  ship  at  present. 
You  might  call  me  a  tourist." 

Paddy  Blake  briskly  led  the  way  to  a  cubby-hole 
of  a  room  with  a  very  strong  door,  which  he  made 
fast  with  a  bolt.  There  was  a  window  whose  shut 
ters  were  of  iron.  O'Shea  suspected  that  fuddled 
seamen  might  be  tucked  in  here  for  safe-keeping  when 
the  occasion  required.  The  two  Irishmen  studied 
each  other  with  a  kind  of  cheerful,  candid  appraise 
ment.  Each  recognized  hi  the  other  certain  quali 
ties  to  be  admired.  Paddy  Blake  was  a  hardened  old 
ruffian,  but  he  was  a  two-fisted  little  man  with  the 
courage  of  a  terrier. 

"  I  have  come  a  long  way  to  find  you,"  said  O'Shea. 
"And  it  was  imparted  to  me  that  the  business  that 
has  brought  me  to  China  had  best  be  discussed  in 
whispers.  'Tis  a  mighty  queer  yarn " 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  321 

"  Ye  need  not  fill  and  back.  Steam  ahead.  I  like 
your  looks,"  broke  in  Paddy  Blake.  "Whatever 
passes  bechune  us  stays  inside  the  door.  Are  ye  in 
throuble?" 

"Not  me.  This  is  about  a  friend  of  mine.  Tell 
me,  Paddy  Blake,  and  think  hard.  Do  ye  recall  a 
strappin'  big  man  with  red  hair  and  blue  eyes  and  a 
deep  voice  that  used  to  roll  the  dice  in  your  place? 
Hold  a  minute;  I  have  not  done  with  him.  One 
front  tooth  was  broken  so  you  would  notice  it  when 
he  talked.  And  he  had  a  crooked  little  finger  that 
must  have  stuck  out  when  he  held  a  glass  or  waved 
his  hand  about." 

Paddy  Blake  puckered  his  brows  and  pinched  his 
long  upper  lip  between  a  grimy  thumb  and  fore 
finger. 

"What  was  he — a  Yankee?"  he  asked,  sitting 
straighter  in  his  chair  and  gazing  at  the  shipmaster 
with  puzzled,  groping  interest. 

"  He  was  an  American  seafarin'  man — a  mate  most 
likely.  You  could  not  forget  him  if  you  cast  eyes 
on  him  only  once.  Yankee  sailors  are  scarce  in  deep- 
water  ports.  This  one  should  stick  out  in  your  recol 
lection  like  a  light-house  in  a  fog." 

"A  whale  of  a  man  with  a  red  head  and  an  eye 
as  blue  as  a  bit  of  the  Inland  Sea!"  vehemently  ex 
claimed  Paddy  Blake.  "And  when  was  he  in  me 
place?  How  long  ago  was  it?  " 

"'Tis  yourself  that  must  answer  that  question. 
At  a  guess,  it  was  more  than  a  year  ago." 

The  spry  little  man  bounded  to  his  feet  and 


322       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

clutched  the  tails  of  his  coat  with  both  hands  as  he 
bent  forward  with  his  face  close  to  O'Shea's  and 
rasped  out: 

"He  has  popped  into  me  head  like  a  flash.  And 
a  mushy-brained  dunce  I  was  not  to  know  him  at 
once.  Eldridge  ye  mean — Jim  Eldridge,  that  was 
mate  in  the  China  Navigation  Company's  steamer 
Tai  Yan,  chartered  to  run  coastwise.  A  whoppin' 
big  beggar  he  was,  but  mild-mannered  and  good- 
hearted,  the  quietest  red-headed  man  that  iver  I 
saw  in  me  life." 

"Are  you  sure  of  that?"  demanded  O'Shea. 
"Could  you  swear  to  it?" 

"I  remimber  him  as  plain  as  I  see  you,"  testily 
returned  Paddy  Blake.  "He  was  not  in  me  place 
often.  'Twas  too  rough  for  him." 

"And  did  you  ever  chance  to  hear  what  had  be 
come  of  him?" 

The  little  man  tapped  O'Shea's  arm  with  an  elo 
quent  finger  and  replied  in  lower  tones : 

"It  comes  back  to  me  that  there  was  a  yarn  about 
him.  'Twas  gossip,  ye  understand,  nawthin'  that 
ye  could  put  your  finger  on.  Shanghai  is  a  great 
place  for  wild  stories.  The  Shanghai  liar  is  a 
special  breed,  and  he  is  famous  all  over  the  world. 
Annyhow,  there  was  a  voyage  of  the  Tai  Van 
steamer  when  he  didn't  come  to  port  in  her.  Shortly 
after  that  she  broke  her  back  on  a  reef  in  the  For 
mosa  Channel  and  all  hands  was  lost,  so  I  never  heard 
anny  news  from  her  people  about  this  Jim  Eldridge." 

"That  was  most  unfortunate,"  said  O'Shea;  "but 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  323 

I  am  in  great  luck  to  get  track  of  the  man  at  all. 
And  have  you  anybody  in  mind  that  might  have 
known  Eldridge  when  he  was  sailing  on  this  coast?  " 

The  volatile  Paddy  Blake  who  saw  so  many  mar 
iners  pass  through  his  place  during  the  year  was 
mentally  sifting  his  recollections  which  were  many 
and  confusing.  The  big  red-headed  man  had  steered 
clear  of  rum  and  riot  and  was  no  steady  frequenter 
of  this  unholy  resort.  Obviously  he  had  made  no 
more  than  a  passing  impression  on  Paddy  Blake, 
but  the  old  man  was  honestly  anxious  to  splice  the 
broken  ends  of  the  story,  and  after  painful  cogitation 
he  broke  out  again: 

"There  is  one  man  that  ye  should  find  by  all 
means.  He  may  be  dead  by  now,  for  the  liquor 
had  harrd  hold  of  him.  I  have  not  seen  or  heard  of 
him  in  a  long  while,  but  he  wint  north  from  here.  I 
mind  the  last  time  he  come  in  me  place.  Pretty 
well  pickled  he  was,  and  some  o'  the  lads  were  yarnin' 
with  him,  and  there  was  talk  of  this  Jim  Eldridge. 
Be  gob!  'twas  then  I  heard  the  queer  gossip,  in  bits, 
d'  ye  see?  There  had  been  a  ruction  somewheres 
up  beyant" — and  Paddy  Blake  waved  a  hand  to 
the  northward— "  and  this  man  I  mintion  had  been 
mixed  in  it  with  Jim  Eldridge.  But  when  they 
would  urge  him  to  unwind  the  story  he  would  turn 
ugly  and  shut  up  like  an  oyster,  half-seas-over 
though  he  was.  He  was  a  great  one  for  messin' 
about  among  the  Chinese,  and  could  patter  two  or 
three  dialects.  A  scholar  and  gentleman  was  Mc- 
Dougal." 


324       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"  McDougal ! "  roared  O'Shea,  taken  all  aback  by 
the  coincidence.  "Why,  man  alive,  this  same  Mc 
Dougal  was  in  your  place  to-night  and  left  not  an 
hour  ago.  He  has  just  come  down  the  coast,  from 
Tientsin  and  Che-Foo." 

"'Tis  a  pity  ye  let  him  get  away.  If  he  wanders 
into  the  Chinese  city  amongst  some  of  thim  native 
friends  of  his  'twill  be  the  divil  and  all  to  find  him 
again.  So  he's  still  alive!" 

"I  sat  and  talked  with  him  and  he  discoursed 
nightmares." 

"He  has  lived  thim,"  said  Paddy  Blake. 

"I  had  him  and  I  lost  him,"  was  O'Shea's  melan 
choly  exclamation.  "An  oakum-whiskered  Dutch 
man  by  the  name  of  Spreckels  breezed  in  under 
full  sail  and  welcomed  this  McDougal  like  a  long- 
lost  brother,  and  carried  him  off  to  sea  before  ye 
could  blink.  It  was  comical.  And  I  sat  there  like 
a  wooden  figure-head  and  let  him  go." 

"In  the  Wilhelmina  Augusta — four-masted  steel 
bark  bound  out  to  Hamburg.  It  was  a  lucky  stroke 
for  McDougal." 

"And  most  unlucky  for  me,"  sighed  O'Shea. 
Then  he  pulled  himself  together,  and  spoke  in  his 
hearty,  masterful  way.  "  Come  along,  Paddy  Blake, 
and  find  me  a  tug.  We  will  chase  McDougal  down 
river  for  the  sake  of  a  conversation  with  him." 

"Captain  Spreckels  had  the  Arrow,  and  she's 
fast,"  said  Paddy  Blake.  "He  has  a  good  start  of 
ye,  and  his  bark  will  be  ready  to  sail  as  soon  as  he 
boards  her." 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  325 

"Then  we'll  chase  him  out  to  sea.  I  have  come 
too  far  to  lose  McDougal  by  letting  him  slip  through 
me  fingers,"  and  the  demeanor  of  Captain  Michael 
O'Shea  discouraged  further  argument. 

Paddy  Blake  jammed  the  tall  hat  on  the  back  of 
his  head,  unbolted  the  door,  and  whisked  through 
the  bar-room  with  such  speed  that  the  shipmaster's 
long  strides  could  hardly  keep  up  with  him.  They 
turned  into  the  street  that  led  to  the  water-front 
and  hastened  to  a  lighted  corner  of  the  bund  where 
stood  several  'rickshaws.  Paddy  darted  at  the 
drowsy  coolies  who  were  squatted  on  the  pavement, 
cuffed  a  couple  of  them,  and  gave  an  order  in  pidgin 
English.  They  jumped  into  the  shafts,  the  passen 
gers  climbed  aboard,  and  the  vehicles  went  spinning 
along  the  thoroughfare. 

As  they  drew  abreast  of  the  lights  of  the  anchored 
shipping,  Paddy  Blake  looked  along  the  landing- 
berths  of  the  smaller  steamers  and  exclaimed  with 
an  explosion  of  profane  surprise : 

"There's  a  tug  in  the  pocket  where  the  Arrow 
ties  up.  I  can't  see  to  make  her  out  hi  the  dark, 
but  we  will  stop  and  take  a  look.  Something  or 
other  may  have  delayed  Captain  Spreckels.  I  hope 
to  blazes  thim  seamen  I  sint  him  has  not  hooked 
it  before  he  got  'em  safe  aboard  the  bark." 

Leaving  the  'rickshaws  to  wait  orders,  they  footed 
it  down  to  the  wharf  and  were  convinced  that  they 
had  found  the  Arrow  even  before  she  could  be 
clearly  made  out.  The  darkness  was  shattered  by 
the  troubled  accents  of  Captain  Spreckels,  who  was 
proclaiming  to  the  skipper  of  the  tug: 


326       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"By  Gott,  I  cannot  wait  for  McDougal  no  longer. 
The  tide  ist  turned  already.  My  wessel  must  go  to 
sea  mit  the  morning  flood.  It  gives  me  sadness  to 
lose  dot  scalawag,  but  he  has  runned  away  mit  him 
self." 

O'Shea  climbed  over  the  guard-rail  and  cried: 

"How  are  you  again,  Captain  Spreckels?  What's 
this  I  hear  about  McDougal?  I  am  after  finding 
him  meself." 

The  master  of  the  Wilhelmina  Augusta  swung  his 
arms  and  made  answer: 

"McDougal  was  a  slippery  customer,  so?  I  haf 
a  immense  fondness  for  him.  By  the  landing  here 
he  left  me  to  go  in  a  'rickshaw,  sehr  schnell,  to  a  room 
what  he  haf  hired  for  to-night  und  fetch  some  little 
t'ings  what  belonged  to  him,  mostly  books  und  some 
papers  mit  writings  on  'em.  He  haf  come  to  Shang 
hai,  he  tells  me,  mit  a  small  bundle  which  he  never 
loses,  drunk  or  sober.  While  the  tug  is  makin'  steam 
und  haulin'  her  lines  aboard  he  will  do  his  errand. 
It  vas  an  hour  ago.  I  do  not  understand,  but  I 
must  not  wait." 

"Changed  his  mind,"  suggested  Paddy  Blake. 
"Sorry  ye  are  shy  a  shipmate,  but  the  news  will 
please  me  friend  Captain  O'Shea  here.  You  lose. 
He  wins." 

The  hull  of  the  Arrow  was  trembling  to  the  thresh 
of  the  screw,  and  her  skipper  was  bawling  the  order 
to  cast  off.  Captain  Spreckels  shouted  farewell  as 
the  two  visitors  jumped  ashore,  and  the  tug  moved 
astern  into  the  fair-way.  As  they  walked  toward  the 
'rickshaws  O'Shea  remarked: 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  327 

"'Tis  no  use  to  go  rummagin'  around  to-night  in 
search  of  McDougal,  I  suppose." 

"No,  but  I  will  find  him  for  ye  to-morrow,"  re 
plied  Paddy  Blake.  "If  he  has  a  room  in  the  Eng 
lish  quarter  ye  can  gamble  he  will  drop  into  my 
place.  If  he  don't  I  will  sind  a  bright  lad  to  round 
him  up.  'Tis  easy  findin'  him  as  long  as  he  is  not 
livin'  in  the  native  city.  What  do  ye  suppose  be 
come  of  him,  annyhow?" 

"Maybe  he  flinched  from  the  notion  of  quitting 
the  East.  When  it  gets  in  the  blood  of  these  tropi 
cal  tramps,  the  grip  of  it  is  not  easy  to  break." 

"And  he  lost  his  nerve  at  the  last  minute,"  said 
Paddy  Blake.  "I've  seen  cases  like  it.  I'm  that 
way  meself." 

Declining  a  cordial  invitation  to  have  a  "night 
cap,"  O'Shea  told  his  'rickshaw  cooly  to  take  him 
to  the  Astor  House.  It  seemed  extraordinary  that 
his  quixotic  pilgrimage  should  have  so  soon  disclosed 
the  identity  of  the  derelict  who  had  drifted  into  the 
comfortable  haven  of  Johnny  Kent's  farm.  This, 
however,  did  not  greatly  astonish  O'Shea,  who  knew 
that  the  steps  of  sailormen  in  alien  ports  are  not  apt 
to  stray  far  from  the  water-side.  The  singular  feat 
ure  of  the  business  was  that  he  should  run  across 
the  sodden  beach-comber,  McDougal,  who  was  the 
needle  in  a  hay-stack  of  prodigious  size.  The  hand 
of  destiny  was  in  it. 

At  breakfast  next  morning  Captain  O'Shea  en 
joyed  overhearing  the  talk  of  a  party  of  American 
tourists  at  a  near-by  table.  In  their  turn  the 


328       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

younger  women  did  not  fail  to  observe  with  interest 
the  clean-cut,  resolute  shipmaster  smartly  turned 
out  in  fresh  white  clothes.  After  they  had  left  the 
dining-room  he  picked  up  a  copy  of  The  Shanghai 
Mercury  and  carelessly  turned  to  the  shipping  news 
where  these  lines  caught  his  eye : 

Bark  Wilhelmina  Augusta,  Spreckels  master,  cleared  for 
Hamburg  with  general  cargo.  Sailed  Woosung  this  A.  M. 

This  turned  his  thoughts  to  McDougal  and  he 
was  impatient  to  find  Paddy  Blake  and  begin  the 
search.  He  was  about  to  toss  the  newspaper  aside 
when  a  paragraph  seemed  to  jump  from  the  page 
and  hit  him  between  the  eyes.  He  read  it  slowly, 
his  lips  moving  as  if  he  were  spelling  out  the  words: 

UNKNOWN  EUROPEAN  MYSTERIOUSLY 
KILLED 

Late  last  night  the  body  of  a  middle-aged  man  was  dis 
covered  in  the  Rue  Pechili  by  an  officer  of  the  French  munic 
ipal  police.  The  place  was  only  a  few  yards  from  one  of  the 
gate-ways  of  the  native  city  wall  in  a  quarter  which  is  largely 
populated  by  Chinese  who  have  overflowed  into  the  French 
quarter.  The  man  had  been  dead  only  a  short  time.  He  is 
supposed  to  have  been  an  American  or  Englishman,  although 
his  identity  was  unknown  at  the  hour  of  going  to  press.  He 
was  clothed  in  gray  tweeds  badly  worn  and  had  the  appear 
ance  of  one  who  had  suffered  from  dissipation.  He  had  been 
stabbed  from  behind,  in  addition  to  which  his  body  was  sav 
agely  gashed  and  mutilated.  The  British  police  were  notified 
and  Inspector  Burke  immediately  took  charge  of  the  case. 

Captain  O'Shea's  second  cup  of  coffee  stood  cold 
and  neglected  while  he  continued  to  gaze  abstract- 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  329 

edly  at  the  front  page  of  The  Shanghai  Mercury. 
He  was  reading  between  the  printed  lines.  His  sun- 
browned  face  had  paled  a  trifle.  He  was  not  afraid, 
but  he  was  conscious  of  that  same  feeling  of  physical 
abhorrence  which  had  taken  hold  of  him  when  he 
first  beheld  the  scarred  and  branded  back  of  the 
man  dubbed  Bill  Maguire. 

He  was  absolutely  certain  that  he  could  identify 
the  " unknown  European"  found  dead  near  a  gate 
way  of  the  native  city.  It  was  McDougal,  and  he 
had  been  slain  because  in  some  manner,  as  yet  unre- 
vealed,  he  had  played  a  part  in  the  tragic  mystery 
of  the  red-haired  sailor.  Intuition  welded  the  cir 
cumstances  together.  With  this  premise  O'Shea 
framed  one  swift  conclusion  after  another.  McDou 
gal  had  suddenly  veered  from  his  purpose  of  going 
to  sea  with  Captain  Spreckels.  With  the  morbid 
impulse  of  a  man  whose  nerves  were  shattered  by 
drink,  he  had  been  afraid  lest  the  German  skipper 
might  find  him  and  carry  him  off  whether  or  no. 
Therefore  he  had  fled  to  cover,  making  for  the 
native  city  where  he  doubtless  had  Chinese  friends. 
Perhaps  he  had  been  watched  and  followed  by  hos 
tile  agents  from  the  moment  he  landed  hi  Shang 
hai. 

"I  have  seen  others  like  him,"  said  O'Shea  to 
himself.  "They  will  run  from  their  own  shadows, 
and  their  friends  can  do  nothing  with  them.  And  I 
must  be  getting  a  bit  flighty  meself  or  I  would  not 
sit  here  and  take  for  granted  things  that  are  no 
more  than  guesswork.  How  do  I  know  that  the 


330       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

dead  man  is  McDougal?  The  answer  is  this:  'Tis 
one  of  me  strong  hunches,  and  they  seldom  go 
wrong." 

He  passed  out  of  the  dining-room  and  delayed  in 
the  office  of  the  hotel  to  ask  a  question  of  the  clerk. 
The  atmosphere  of  the  place  was  so  wholly  Euro 
pean  that  the  China,  with  which  O'Shea  had  come 
darkly,  gropingly  in  touch,  seemed  almost  as  far 
away  as  when  he  had  been  on  the  farm  in  Maine. 
The  clerk  went  to  the  porch  and  gave  instructions 
to  a  'rickshaw  cooly,  and  Captain  O'Shea  rattled  off 
to  the  headquarters  buildings  of  the  English  police. 
A  Sikh  orderly  conducted  him  into  the  small  room 
where  Inspector  Burke  sat  at  a  desk  scanning  a  file 
of  reports.  He  was  a  tall,  dark,  soldierly  man  of 
about  forty.  The  slim-waisted  khaki  tunic,  the 
riding-breeches,  and  the  polished  brown  puttees  gave 
him  the  air  of  a  dashing  trooper  of  light-horse. 
Glancing  at  O'Shea's  card,  he  nodded  pleasantly  and 
said  with  a  singularly  winning  smile : 

"And  what  can  I  do  for  Captain  Michael  O'Shea, 
of  New  York?  I  am  very  much  at  your  service." 

"'Tis  about  the  man  that  was  found  murdered 
close  by  the  native  city  last  night,"  was  the  reply. 

"Ah,  by  Jove!"  exclaimed  the  inspector,  and  his 
pencil  tapped  the  desk  with  a  quick  tattoo.  "An 
odd  case,  that!  Most  unusual.  I  was  potterin' 
about  on  it  a  good  part  of  the  night.  My  men  re 
port  that  he  was  in  Paddy  Blake's  place  during  the 
evening,  but  the  old  rip  denies  knowing  him,  of 
course.  He  wants  to  steer  clear  of  the  case.  I'm 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  331 

rather  stumped  so  far.  You  are  at  the  Astor  House? 
I  fancy  I  saw  you  there  at  dinner  last  night." 

"Right  you  are,  sir.  I  am  more  than  a  little  in 
terested  in  this  dead  man,"  pursued  O'Shea  in  a 
straightforward  manner.  "And  I  will  first  describe 
him  to  ye,"  which  he  proceeded  to  do  with  the  detail 
of  an  observer  whose  eye  was  keen  and  memory 
retentive. 

"That's  the  Johnny,  to  a  dot,"  cried  Inspector 
Burke,  alertly  interested.  "And  when  did  you  last 
see  him?" 

"I  talked  with  him  last  night,  but  before  we  go 
further  I  will  prove  an  alibi,"  hastily  answered 
O'Shea,  suddenly  realizing  that  his  position  in  the 
matter  might  look  compromising. 

"Don't  trouble  yourself,"  was  the  easy  assurance. 
"You  are  jolly  well  out  of  it  and  satisfactorily  ac 
counted  for.  This  was  a  native  job,  not  a  bit  of 
doubt  of  it.  Suppose  we  take  a  look  at  the  body. 
It  is  packed  in  ice  in  the  go-down  just  back  of  this 
building.  Your  identification  must  go  on  the  rec 
ords,  you  know.  Then  we  can  have  a  chin-chin,  and 
I  hope  you'll  be  good  enough  to  stay  for  tiffin  with 
me." 

O'Shea  took  from  an  inside  pocket  of  his  coat  a 
leather  bill-case  and  drew  therefrom  a  sheet  of  heavy 
paper  folded  several  times.  Spread  out,  it  covered 
half  the  desk.  Upon  it  he  had  drawn  with  a  brush 
and  stencilling  ink  a  life-size  reproduction  of  the 
great  Chinese  character  that  scarred  and  discolored 
the  back  of  the  red-haired  sailor. 


332       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Inspector  Burke  flung  his  cigarette  aside  with  a 
quick  gesture  and  stared  first  at  the  desk  and  then 
at  O'Shea.  His  pleasant  composure  was  evidently 
disturbed,  and  he  spoke  abruptly. 

"My  word!  You  know  a  lot  more  about  this  job 
than  I  do.  Where  the  deuce  did  you  get  that?  The 
poor  beggar  that  was  butchered  last  night  had  the 
mark  on  him." 

"I  know  he  did,  Inspector  Burke.  I  was  sure  of 
it  when  I  read  about-  the  thing  in  the  newspaper 
this  morning." 

They  went  into  the  shed  and  viewed  what  was  left 
of  the  ill-fated  McDougal,  who  had  tried,  too  late, 
to  throw  all  regrets  away  and  make  a  new  start 
at  the  difficult  business  of  existence.  O'Shea  was 
keenly  distressed.  The  man  had  won  his  sympathy. 
He  would  have  liked  to  befriend  him.  Inspector 
Burke  said  kindly: 

"Did  you  know  him  at  all  well?  He  must  have 
amounted  to  something  once.  Was  he  ever  a  chum 
of  yours?" 

"  I  never  laid  eyes  on  him  till  last  evening  in  Paddy 
Blake's,"  answered  O'Shea.  "And  now  I  will  sit 
down  with  ye  and  spin  the  yarn  of  the  sailorman 
that  I  called  Bill  Maguire  for  convenience." 

The  inspector  listened  gravely,  nodding  compre- 
hendingly  now  and  then  as  if  his  own  experience 
might  have  crossed  the  trail  of  the  same  story. 
When  O'Shea  ceased  talking,  his  comment  was  as 
follows: 

"Most  extraordinary!    I  fancy  we  can  help  each 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  v  333 

other  a  bit.  But,  mind  you,  I  don't  pretend  to  know 
much  about  this  mysterious  murder  society  that  goes 
about  choppin'  people  up.  I  have  heard  of  it,  of 
course,  but  until  now  its  activities  have  been  con 
fined  to  the  Chinese.  We  don't  pretend  to  police 
the  native  city.  The  Chinese  governor  runs  his  own 
show.  There  are  native  detectives  on  my  staff,  but 
their  work  is  mostly  in  the  foreign  municipality. 
The  case  of  this  McDougal  is  the  first  of  its  kind. 
And  I  rather  think  you  have  supplied  the  motive. 
He  knew  too  much." 

"But  what  did  he  know?"  demanded  O'Shea. 
"There  was  this  sailor  by  the  right  name  of  Jim 
Eldridge,  ye  understand.  He  got  his  in  the  same 
way.  They  were  mixed  up  together  at  one  time  or 
another." 

Inspector  Burke  withdrew  from  a  drawer  of  his 
desk  a  large  envelope  and  emptied  out  several  torn 
sheets  and  fragments  of  paper  which  looked  as 
though  they  had  been  trampled  underfoot.  Some 
were  covered  with  handwriting  in  English,  while 
others  held  columns  of  Chinese  characters.  They 
were  so  mud-stained  and  crumpled,  however,  that 
only  a  few  lines  here  and  there  were  at  all  legible. 
O'Shea  gazed  at  them  eagerly,  surmising  what  they 
were  before  the  inspector  explained : 

"My  men  picked  them  up  in  the  street  where 
McDougal's  body  was  found." 

"Yes.  He  must  have  had  a  bundle  of  books  and 
papers  under  his  arm,  for  I  heard  mention  of  the 
same,"  cried  O'Shea.  "Like  enough,  it  was  ripped 


334       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

apart  in  the  scrimmage  and  the  blood-thirsty  heathen 
made  off  with  whatever  they  could  lay  their  hands 
on  hi  a  hurry.  If  they  spied  any  Chinese  writing 
they  would  grab  at  it.  What  do  ye  say,  Inspector 
Burke?" 

"There  are  bits  of  some  sort  of  a  diary  here,  Cap 
tain  O'Shea,  and  odds  and  ends  that  only  a  native 
could  make  head  or  tail  of.  I  looked  them  over 
early  this  morning,  and  one  of  my  Chinese  did  what 
he  could  to  help.  It  is  impossible  to  arrange  the 
fragments  hi  any  sequence,  but  the  story  you  tell 
me  dovetails  rather  curiously  with  some  of  the 
sentences." 

"There  was  many  queer  things  stowed  away  hi 
that  noddle  of  his,"  said  O'Shea,  "and  he  was  an 
educated  man,  so  he  would  be  apt  to  make  notes  of 
them.  And  does  he  make  any  mention  at  all  of 
this  Jim  Eldridge,  alias  Bill  Maguire?" 

Inspector  Burke  carefully  smoothed  a  torn  sheet 
of  paper  and  laid  a  finger  on  a  few  lines  scrawled 
in  a  shaky  hand.  They  held  no  reference  to  the 
sailor,  but  several  phrases  were  startlingly  famil 
iar  to  Captain  O'Shea.  The  mutilated  passage  ran 
thus: 

Very  horrid  dreams  last  night — brandy  failed  to  drive  them 
away.  Was  in  a  steamer  on  the  Stinking  River — the  Painted 
Joss  came  through  the  cabin  port-hole,  squeezing  itself  small  as 
if  made  of  rubber,  and  then  expanding  to  gigantic  she.  It 
strangled  me  slowly,  making  hideous  faces.  This  is  a  warning 
— When  I  dream  of  the  Painted  Joss,  I  am  on  the  edge  of  seeing 
things  while  awake.  The  fear  of  violent  death  is.  .  .  . 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  335 

Captain  O'Shea  was  vividly  reminded  of  the  dis 
jointed  monologue  of  Bill  Maguire,  who  had  shown 
symptoms  of  a  similar  antipathy  to  the  "Painted 
Joss." 

"McDougal  wrote  down  the  Stinking  River  as  if 
it  was  a  real  name,"  he  said  to  Inspector  Burke.  "I 
thought  Maguire  called  it  that  because  it  smelled 
bad.  If  it  is  on  the  map,  can  ye  locate  it,  and  is 
there  by  any  chance  a  town  with  the  title  of  Wang- 
Li-Fu  on  the  banks  of  the  same?" 

Inspector  Burke  summoned  a  fat,  drowsy-looking 
interpreter  and  put  several  questions  to  him.  After 
poring  over  an  atlas  for  some  time,  this  owlish 
Chinese  gentleman  vouchsafed  the  information  that 
a  navigable  stream  known  as  the  River  of  Ten  Thou 
sand  Evil  Smells  did  indeed  flow  through  a  coast 
wise  part  of  Kiangsu  province,  emptying  into  the 
wide  estuary  of  the  old  mouth  of  the  Yellow  River. 
There  was  a  city  in  that  region  which  had  been 
great  and  flourishing  until  the  Tai-Ping  Rebellion 
laid  it  in  ruins.  It  was  now  no  more  than  a  wretched 
hamlet,  although  in  local  usage  it  had  retained  the 
name  of  Wang-Li-Fu,  the  last  syllable  of  which  sig 
nified  a  chief  city  of  a  province. 

"I  say,  this  is  interesting,"  exclaimed  Inspector 
Burke.  "I  am  inclined  to  think  that  you  and  I 
have  picked  up  a  warm  scent,  Captain  O'Shea. 
And  here's  another  bit  of  paper  we  can  manage  to 
read." 

They  pored  over  a  muddy  page  of  McDougal's 
diary  and  discovered,  alas!  that  it  was  no  more  than 


336       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

a  fragment  of  a  little  Chinese  farce  called  "The 
Mender  of  Broken  China-ware."  McDougal  had 
picked  it  up  from  some  troupe  of  strolling  players  and 
jotted  down  a  rough  translation  of  his  own,  be 
ginning: 

"Seeking  a  livelihood  by  the  work  of  my  hands, 
Daily  do  I  traverse  the  streets  of  the  city. 

Well,  here  I  am,  a  mender  of  broken  jars, 
An  unfortunate  victim  of  ever-changing  plans. 

To  repair  fractured  jars  is  my  sole  occupation. 

'Tis  even  so.     Disconsolate  am  I,  Niu-Chau." 

The  two  investigators  laid  this  page  aside  and 
scanned  the  remaining  scraps  of  paper.  The  Chinese 
writing  consisted  almost  wholly  of  quotations,  lines 
from  the  classics,  racy  proverbs  of  the  common 
people,  and  so  on.  They  contained  nothing  what 
ever  that  might  throw  more  light  on  the  mystery  of 
McDougal.  In  much  the  same  way,  what  he  had 
written  in  English  concerned  itself  with  his  wander 
ings  from  port  to  port  and  his  pitiful  failures  to  hold 
a  position. 

"What  we  want  most  was  lost  in  the  scuffle,"  said 
O'Shea.  "The  earlier  part  of  this  diary  may  have 
told  the  story  that  you  and  I  are  anxious  to  know." 

"I  fancy  we  know  more  than  any  other  two 
white  men  hi  China,"  drawled  Inspector  Burke. 
"  If  a  chap  is  really  keen  to  find  out  something  about 
this  blackguardly  organization,  he  will  make  a  voy 
age  to  the  River  of  Ten  Thousand  Evil  Smells  and 
go  pokin'  about  the  ruined  town  of  Wang-Li-Fu. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  337 

It's  out  of  my  bailiwick.  Now,  whether  I  ought  to 
lay  this  information  before  the  Chinese  officials  of 
the  provincial  government— — " 

"Excuse  me  for  meddling,"  O'Shea  broke  in  with 
a  boyish,  eager  smile,  "but  I  have  come  a  long  way 
to  go  rummagin'  about  in  this  mess  on  me  own  hook. 
And  do  ye  think  the  Chinese  government  could  be 
trusted  to  go  ahead  and  accomplish  anything  at  all? 
This  evidence  of  ours  is  no  more  than  guesswork." 

"I  have  thought  of  that,  Captain  O'Shea.  And 
the  thing  would  not  be  done  quietly.  There  would 
be  a  lot  of  chin-chin  and  clumsy  preparation,  and  a 
gun-boat  and  pig-tailed  soldiers,  and  Shanghai  get 
ting  wind  of  the  expedition.  It  would  be  better  to 
do  the  trick  off  one's  own  bat." 

"My  friend,  the  sailorman  with  the  cracked  top, 
remarked  most  emphatic  about  the  'Head  Devil' 
when  he  was  spillin'  disconnected  language," 
thoughtfully  observed  O'Shea.  "'Tis  me  strong 
opinion  that  he  tangled  himself  with  the  main  works 
of  this  busy  fraternity  of  man-killers." 

"What  are  your  plans,  may  I  ask?  You  are  wel 
come  to  all  the  information  my  men  may  pick  up  hi 
the  native  city.  What  a  lark !  I  wish  I  might  get  a 
leave  of  absence  and  go  with  you." 

"I  would  ask  no  better  partner,"  warmly  returned 
O'Shea.  "Well,  I  will  buy  charts  and  study  the 
coast  of  this  Kiangsu  province  and  learn  what  I  can 
about  the  inland  waters.  And  then  I  will  find  a 
few  good  men  that  will  go  to  hell  for  wages,  and 
fight  for  the  love  of  it.  And  I  will  charter  a  steamer 


338       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

that  is  fit  to  navigate  rivers  and  we  will  be  what 
you  might  call  an  expedition." 

Inspector  Burke  gripped  the  hard  hand  of  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  and  exclaimed  with  a  laugh: 

"Here's  luck  to  you!  My  word,  but  you're  the 
most  refreshin'  man  I've  met  since  I  came  off  fron 
tier  service  in  India!  I  will  help  you  find  your  men. 
Nothing  easier.  Shanghai  can  furnish  you  gentle 
manly  remittance  men  from  England,  stranded 
American  soldiers  from  Manila,  time-expired  blue 
jackets  from  Hong-Kong,  broken  shipmasters  from 
God  knows  where,  and  assorted  scamps  who  will  fol 
low  any  one  that  will  buy  the  drinks." 

"  'Tis  cheerful  news,  Inspector  Burke.  I  will  have 
a  council  of  war  with  you  to-morrow  at  this  time.  I 
wish  that  you  would  see  that  poor  McDougal  is 
buried  decent  in  a  Christian  church-yard  and  I  will  be 
glad  to  pay  the  bills.  He  was  a  good  man  once." 


IV 

THAT  same  evening  Captain  O'Shea  remained  in 
his  room  at  the  hotel  until  after  nine  o'clock.  For 
one  thing,  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Johnny  Kent, 
acquainting  that  doughty  farmer  with  the  encour 
aging  progress  of  the  enterprise,  which  promised 
"to  deal  out  enough  trouble  to  satisfy  any  reason 
able  man."  Then  he  took  his  letter  of  credit  from 
the  leather  bill-book  and  made  sundry  calculations. 
After  leaving  Inspector  Burke  he  had  rambled  along 


THE   BRANDED   MAN  339 

the  water-front  and  made  random  inquiries  concern 
ing  charter  prices.  Freights  were  low  and  the  river 
trade  was  dull.  His  funds  could  stand  the  strain. 
Fighting  men  of  the  kind  he  wanted  were  cheap 
and  he  would  ship  coolies  as  stokers  and  deck 
hands.  However,  O'Shea  was  ready  to  see  the 
thing  through  if  it  took  his  last  penny.  What  man 
with  blood  in  him  wouldn't  be  glad  to  pay  the  price 
of  such  a  picnic  as  this? 

Having  jotted  down  his  estimates  of  the  cost  of 
coal,  stores,  wages,  arms,  and  so  on,  he  cocked  an 
eye  at  the  total  and  said  to  himself: 

"'Tis  the  first  time  I  ever  backed  an  expedition 
of  me  own,  and  was  not  pulling  some  one  else's  irons 
out  of  the  fire.  I  feel  like  the  minister  of  war  of  a 
revolutionary  government . ' ' 

Gathering  up  his  papers,  he  was  about  to  restore 
them  to  the  leather  wallet  when  he  caught  sight  of 
the  folded  sheet  containing  the  great  Chinese  char 
acter  which  he  had  displayed  to  Inspector  Burke. 
It  was  not  a  thing  to  be  carried  about  carelessly  and 
perhaps  exposed  to  view  in  the  course  of  his  business 
dealings  with  banks  or  shops  or  shipping  agents. 
Some  association  with  this  sinister  symbol  had  cost 
poor  McDougal  his  life.  And  Chinese  were  to  be 
found  everywhere  in  the  European  settlement.  With 
an  unusually  prudent  impulse,  Captain  O'Shea 
thrust  the  folded  paper  between  the  layers  of  cloth 
ing  in  his  trunk  and  put  the  key  in  his  pocket. 

The  night  was  young,  the  air  warm  and  close 
within  doors,  and  he  felt  not  in  the  least  like  turning 


340       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

in.  Strolling  through  the  wide  corridors,  he  passed 
into  the  street  and  moved  idly  in  the  direction  of  the 
Bund,  attracted  by  the  music  of  a  band  which  was 
playing  in  the  park  near  by.  The  place  was  like  a 
lovely  garden  with  wide  areas  of  lawn  and  a  pro 
fusion  of  foliage.  The  large  number  of  men  and 
women  who  walked  to  and  fro  or  chatted  in  groups 
were,  for  the  most  part,  English,  American,  and  Ger 
man;  exiles  of  a  fashionable  and  prosperous  air  who 
appeared  to  find  life  in  the  Far  East  quite  endurable 
and  success  in  their  commercial  enterprises  not  har- 
assingly  difficult. 

Captain  O'Shea  found  a  seat  on  a  rustic  bench  and 
watched  the  passing  show.  Presently  he  smiled  as 
he  descried  the  incongruous  figure  of  a  wizened  little 
elderly  Irishman  in  a  black  frock-coat  with  a  rusty 
tall  hat  firmly  jammed  on  the  back  of  his  head.  In 
this  smart  company  Paddy  Blake  was  a  fish  out  of 
water,  but  he  had  lost  not  a  bit  of  his  brisk,  devil- 
may-care  demeanor  which  dared  any  one  to  tread  on 
the  tail  of  the  coat  aforesaid.  O'Shea  hailed  him, 
and  he  halted  to  cackle  cordially: 

"I  was  lookin'  for  ye  to  drop  into  me  place  all  day. 
There  was  a  magnum  on  ice  and  a  brace  of  cold 
roast  Chinese  pheasants  that  'ud  make  a  king  lick 
his  chops.  I  had  something  important  to  impart  to 
ye  in  th'  back  room." 

"  'Twas  about  McDougal,  no  doubt,"  said  O'Shea. 
"I  found  him,  and  dead  as  a  mackerel  he  was." 

"I  had  the  same  news  this  mornin',"  exclaimed 
Paddy  Blake.  "One  of  me  Chinese  bar-boys  lives 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  341 

in  the  native  city  forninst  the  French  Gate.  He  was 
bound  home  last  night  whin  the  body  was  found,  but 
the  likes  of  him  'ud  scuttle  away  and  say  nawthin' 
to  the  police." 

"Inspector  Burke  tells  me  that  you  were  not 
too  free  with  information  yourself,"  dryly  observed 
O'Shea. 

Paddy  Blake  vehemently  thumped  his  knee  with 
his  tall  hat  and  returned: 

"Me  place  has  a  bad  enough  reputation,  God 
knows,  and  the  damned  British  police  is  biassed  agin 
me.  Would  it  do  me  anny  good  to  be  dragged  into 
court  as  witness  in  a  murder  case  and  th'  inspector 
makin'  out  that  the  man  got  drunk  on  my  booze? 
Which  is  wrong  entirely,  for  McDougal  was  sober 
when  he  went  off  in  tow  of  Captain  Spreckels,  as  ye 
well  know.  But  'tis  no  use  holdin'  post-mortems. 
Thim  Chinese  divils  done  for  McDougal  same  as  he 
was  afraid  of.  And  are  ye  makin'  anny  headway 
in  the  matter  of  the  big  red-headed  man  that  I  in 
formed  ye  was  Jim  Eldridge,  mate  of  the  Tai  Van 
steamer?" 

"  I  will  not  find  easy  weather  of  it  without  McDou 
gal,"  said  O'Shea,  who  had  no  intention  of  showing 
his  hand  to  Paddy  Blake. 

An  electric  lamp  illuminated  the  path  in  front  of 
them,  but  a  large  tree  cast  a  shadow  past  one  end  of 
the  bench,  which  was  why  they  did  not  sooner  per 
ceive  a  young  man  who  stood  scanning  the  crowd  as 
if  he  had  nothing  more  to  do  than  listen  to  the  music. 
Now  he  stepped  into  the  light  and  was  about  to 


342       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

move  on  when  he  caught  sight  of  the  tall  hat  of  old 
Paddy  Blake.  As  though  recognizing  this  ancient 
landmark,  he  made  a  mock  pass  at  it  with  his  lac 
quered  stick  and  exclaimed  in  accents  easily  familiar : 

"Hello,  old  sport!  I  was  betting  you  the  price  of 
a  new  hat  on  the  arrival  of  the  German  mail-boat  last 
week.  You  won,  Paddy,  but  why  do  you  not  wear 
the  new  hat?" 

O'Shea  was  surveying  the  jocular  young  man  with 
considerable  interest.  Here  was  a  type  new  to  him 
—the  dapper,  blase,  slangy  Chinese  of  Shanghai, 
wearing  European  clothes  and  manners,  ardent  pa 
tron  of  the  club  and  the  race-track,  and  forsaking 
his  countrymen  to  live  in  a  foreign-built  villa  on  the 
Bubbling  Well  Road.  An  English  tailor  and  an 
English  haberdasher  had  adorned  this  young  man 
regardless  of  expense,  but  O'Shea  surmised  that  he 
was  something  more  than  a  gilded  rounder.  He 
looked  quick-witted  and  efficient  and  very  wise  in 
worldly  knowledge.  Moreover,  there  was  an  odd 
quality  of  respect  in  the  manner  of  the  unterrified 
Paddy  Blake  as  he  replied  to  the  greeting. 

"An'  what's  the  good  worrd,  Charley?  Can  I  do 
anny thing  at  all  for  ye?  I  am  waitin'  to  buy  a  hat 
with  your  money  whin  this  one  wears  out.  'Tis  a 
shame  to  toss  it  away.  I  want  ye  to  know  Cap 
tain  O'Shea,  a  seafarin'  friend  of  mine  from  New 
York.  Captain,  this  is  Misther  Charley  Tong  Sin, 
comprador  for  Jordan,  Margetson  &  Co.,  an'  the 
smartest  comprador  that  ye  will  find  between  Tien 
tsin  and  Singapore,  if  I  do  say  it  to  his  face." 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  343 

O'Shea  shook  hands  with  the  affable  young  man, 
who  laughed  and  retorted: 

"Paddy  is  a  great  chap  for  the  blarney,  a  first- 
chop  jollier,  you  bet.  We  do  some  business  to 
gether  when  my  firm  wants  sailors  for  its  ships. 
Sometimes  Paddy  beats  me;  not  so  often  I  skin  him." 

"Listen  to  him,"  chuckled  the  old  man.  "If  iver 
I  got  the  best  of  him  just  once,  it  'ud  make  me  too 
proud  to  live  with.  Well,  I  must  be  trottin'  along  to 
me  own  dump.  I  wandered  to  th'  park  on  the  chance 
of  pickin'  up  a  couple  of  stray  sailors.  If  ye  can 
be  of  anny  service  to  Captain  O'Shea  I  will  count  it 
as  a  favor,  Charley.  He's  a  stranger  and  he's  Irish, 
and  he  has  made  a  hit  with  me." 

Paddy  Blake  departed  in  great  haste,  and  Charley 
Tong  Sin  offered  O'Shea  a  cigarette  from  an  ornately 
jewelled  case,  remarking: 

"You  are  in  Shanghai  for  business  or  pleasure? 
It  is  a  bully  good  town  for  fun;  not  as  swift  as  New 
York,  but  not  so  slow  either.  I  went  to  college  in 
America." 

"Which  is  more  than  I  did,"  confessed  O'Shea. 
"Oh,  I  am  just  looking  about  Shanghai,  not  to  find 
out  how  swift  the  town  is,  but  to  invest  a  bit  of 
money,  maybe.  Jordan,  Margetson?  That  is  a  big 
shipping  house?" 

"The  same.  I  am  in  charge  of  the  native  busi 
ness,"  chirruped  Charley  Tong  Sin.  "Anything  in 
the  shipping  line  you  want,  you  come  to  see  me 
and  I  will  put  you  wise.  You  have  done  business 
in  these  ports  before,  captain?" 


344       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"No;  mostly  in  the  Atlantic  trade.  I  was  in  the 
office  of  your  firm  this  afternoon,  asking  some  in 
formation  about  a  possible  charter." 

"Ah,  but  you  did  not  see  me.  Too  bad,"  and  the 
comprador  added  with  bland  self-satisfaction:  "It 
must  have  been  after  three  o'clock.  Then  I  am  in  the 
club  drinking  gin  cocktails  every  day  until  I  go  home 
to  dinner.  It  is  my  custom.  There  is  no  man  in 
Shanghai  that  does  more  business  and  drinks  more 
gin  cocktails,  but  I  do  not  mix  the  two  things.  I 
am  the  wise  guy,  eh?  What  tonnage  do  you  want 
to  charter,  and  where  to?" 

"  I  am  not  quite  ready  to  say,"  replied  O'Shea,  who 
preferred  to  keep  his  affairs  to  himself  even  when 
offered  the  assistance  of  so  capable  an  adviser  as 
Charley  Tong  Sin. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon.  Come  to  my  office  when  you 
have  made  up  your  mind,  Captain  O'Shea.  For  the 
sake  of  the  jolly  sprees  I  had  hi  little  old  New  York, 
I  will  see  that  you  are  not  stung  in  Shanghai.  What 
do  you  say  to  a  drive  on  the  Bubbling  Well  Road 
before  you  go  back  to  your  hotel?  My  carriage  is 
waiting  a  little  way  from  here.  I  came  to  the  park 
to  meet  a  friend  but  he  has  not  arrived." 

The  invitation  was  attractive  and  the  acquaintance 
of  the  comprador  worth  cultivating.  O'Shea  ac 
cepted  with  thanks,  and  presently  they  climbed  into 
a  very  shiny  victoria  with  two  Chinese  grooms  on  the 
box.  The  spirited  little  horses,  admirably  matched, 
danced  through  the  paved  streets  of  the  settlement 
and  out  into  the  wider  spaces  of  the  countryside. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  345 

The  shipmaster  found  pleasure  in  new  places;  with 
him  sight-seeing  had  never  lost  its  zest,  and  the  Bub 
bling  Well  Road  was  one  of  the  things  that  no  voy 
ager  to  the  Orient  ought  to  miss.  To  view  it  by 
night  was  rather  unsatisfactory,  but  the  air  was 
deliciously  sweet  and  cool,  and  the  handsome  em 
bowered  residences  of  merchants  and  diplomats  and 
Chinese  officials  appeared  quite  magnificent  when 
duskily  discerned  by  the  glimmer  of  the  stars. 

"You  have  seen  the  native  city?  No?"  said 
Charley  Tong  Sin.  "  It  is  very  dirty,  but  picturesque 
to  beat  the  deuce.  What  you  say?  To-morrow 
morning  I  go  to  have  an  appointment  with  His  Excel 
lency,  the  governor,  at  his  yamen.  It  is  on  busi 
ness.  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  meet  me  there 
and  have  an  audience.  It  is  rather  good  fun,  much 
red-tape,  a  big  bunch  of  officials,  and  plenty  of  kow 
towing.  Not  many  foreigners  have  admittance  to 
him  in  this  way." 

It  occurred  to  Captain  O'Shea  that  he  should  very 
much  like  to  learn  what  the  government  of  the  na 
tive  city,  or  the  police  department  thereof,  had  dis 
covered  in  connection  with  the  murder  of  McDougal. 
And  to  gain  an  entrance  in  company  with  the  influ 
ential  comprador,  himself  a  Chinese,  was  to  make 
his  inquiries  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances. 

"I  will  jump  at  the  chance,"  he  exclaimed.  "A 
man  like  me  that  may  do  business  in  China  in  a  small 
way  should  make  himself  solid  with  the  powers 
that  be." 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  meet  you  at  your  hotel 


346       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

and  take  you  to  the  yamen,"  explained  Charley  Tong 
Sin,  "but  to-morrow  I  must  be  very  early  at  my 
office  to  make  up  the  accounts  of  a  ship  that  will  sail 
for  Hankow,  and  then  I  will  have  to  hurry  into  the 
native  city  like  the  very  devil.  If  you  tell  your 
'rickshaw  man  to  carry  you  to  the  governor's  yamen 
I  will  be  there  and  see  you  at  eight  o'clock." 

"I  can  find  my  way,  and  many  thanks  to  you," 
cordially  returned  O'Shea.  "The  native  city  is 
strange  water,  but  no  doubt  the  'rickshaw  pilot  will 
know  his  course." 

It  was  drawing  near  to  midnight  when  the  shiny 
victoria  left  Captain  O'Shea  at  the  Astor  House 
and  the  obliging  Charley  Tong  Sin  bade  him  adieu. 
The  shipmaster  went  yawning  to  his  room,  agree 
ably  refreshed  by  the  outing  and  ready  for  bed.  He 
was  a  tidy  man  by  habit,  having  stowed  himself  and 
his  belongings  for  much  of  his  life  in  a  space  no  larger 
than  a  respectable  closet.  Even  in  a  hotel  room  he 
left  nothing  strewn  about. 

He  had  no  more  than  pulled  off  his  coat  when  he 
observed  that  things  were  not  arranged  exactly  as 
he  had  left  them.  His  eyes  noted  one  trifle,  and  this 
led  him  to  look  for  others.  The  Chinese  servant  had 
been  in  to  turn  down  the  bed,  leave  fresh  towels, 
and  pick  up  burnt  matches  and  scraps  of  paper, 
but  something  other  than  this  routine  handwork  had 
been  busy  in  the  room.  His  things  had  been  ex 
amined  hastily,  but  with  careful  endeavor  to  leave 
them  as  they  were.  Opening  one  bureau  drawer 
after  another,  he  found  confirmation  of  this  sus- 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  347 

picion.  The  articles  therein  had  been  not  so  much 
poked  about  in  disorder  as  moved  from  their  places 
by  exploring  hands. 

If  a  thief  had  been  in  the  room  he  found  no  booty 
for  his  pains,  for  there  was  neither  money  nor  jewelry 
to  be  looted.  Captain  O'Shea  thoughtfully  picked 
up  a  leather  hand-bag  which  was  locked  as  he  had 
left  it.  Inserting  the  key  he  looked  inside.  He  had 
been  careful  to  slip  a  box  of  revolver  cartridges  into  a 
leather  flap-pocket  because  the  pasteboard  covering 
was  broken  and  they  were  apt  to  spill  loose  in  the 
bottom  of  the  bag.  Evidently  it  had  been  ran 
sacked,  for  the  box  of  cartridges  was  not  in  the 
pocket,  but  lodged  hi  a  fold  of  a  rain-coat  which  half 
filled  the  bag.  O'Shea  whistled  softly  and  moved 
straightway  to  his  trunk.  This  also  was  locked. 
Flinging  back  the  lid,  he  instantly  searched  between 
the  layers  of  clothing  for  the  folded  sheet  of  heavy 
paper  on  which  he  had  drawn  with  a  brush  and 
stencilling  ink  the  ominous  Chinese  character  that 
was  branded  into  the  back  of  the  red-haired  sailor- 
man. 

The  paper  was  missing.  Something  had  already 
told  him  that  he  should  find  it  missing.  He  made  no 
further  search,  but  sat  himself  down  on  the  edge  of 
the  bed  and  stared  very  hard  at  the  blank  wall. 
The  night  was  as  warm  as  before,  but  he  felt  cu 
riously  chilly. 

"  'Tis  like  as  if  some  one  had  jammed  an  icicle  into 
the  small  of  me  back,"  he  reflected.  "I  will  not  cry 
before  I  am  hurt,  but  there's  more  to  this  divertin' 


348       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

adventure  of  mine  than  Johnny  Kent  and  I  ever 
dreamed  of  on  the  farm." 

Certain  conclusions  were  boldly  obvious.  His 
real  business  in  China  had  been  discovered  by  the 
same  agency  which  had  tried  to  slay  the  red-haired 
sailor  and  which  had  murdered  McDougal.  The 
paper  had  been  stolen  because  it  was  a  clinching 
proof  of  his  active  interest  and  interference,  and  per 
haps  also  to  terrify  and  intimidate  him  with  the 
realization  that  intelligences,  hostile  and  secret,  were 
spying  on  him.  It  was  futile  to  try  to  guess  how  the 
knowledge  of  his  purpose  had  been  disclosed.  Mc 
Dougal  may  have  been  watched  and  followed,  as 
O'Shea  had  already  surmised,  and  they  had  been 
seen  talking  together  in  Paddy  Blake's  place.  Some 
listener  may  have  been  unseen  during  the  interview 
at  the  headquarters  of  Inspector  Burke. 

To  make  complaint,  either  to  the  hotel  manage 
ment  or  to  the  police,  that  his  room  had  been  entered 
seemed  a  silly  proceeding.  To  catch  this  kind  of  a 
thief  was  as  hopeless  as  chasing  a  phantom.  It  was 
decidedly  unpleasant  to  think  of  going  to  sleep  in 
this  room,  for  as  Captain  Michael  O'Shea  admitted 
to  himself,  with  a  very  serious  countenance : 

"The  lad  that  did  that  trick  is  likely  to  sift  in 
through  the  key-hole  if  he  takes  the  notion  and  chop 
the  brand  into  me  back  after  slippin'  the  knife  into 
me  before  I  can  wake  up  to  find  out  how  dead  I  am. 
I  would  like  to  sleep  in  the  same  bed  with  Inspector 
Burke  and  a  battery  of  the  Royal  Artillery  this  night, 
but  if  I  lose  me  nerve  Johnny  Kent  will  disown  me 
entirely." 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  349 

With  this  he  looked  over  his  defences,  like  a  sea 
soned  campaigner,  and  assembled  the  chairs,  the 
crockery,  and  the  large  tin  bath-tub,  together  with 
the  heavier  articles  of  his  own  kit.  Two  chairs  he 
placed  against  the  door,  one  balanced  on  top  of  the 
other  so  that  if  dislodged  they  would  topple  over 
with  a  good  deal  of  noise.  The  cord  of  the  mos 
quito  canopy  he  cut  in  twain,  and  so  ingeniously 
suspended  tub  and  crockery  just  inside  the  two  win 
dows  that  the  wariest  intruder  must  certainly  set  in 
motion  a  clamorous  little  avalanche.  Then,  having 
tucked  his  revolver  under  the  pillow,  he  prudently 
commended  his  soul  to  his  Maker  and  composed  him 
self  to  slumber  of  a  hair-trigger  kind. 

The  night  passed  without  alarm  and  Captain 
Michael  O'Shea  roused  himself  out  soon  after  day 
break  to  smoke  three  strong  Manila  cigars  and  or 
ganize  himself  as  a  strategy  board,  or  one  might  have 
said  that  he  was  clearing  for  action.  Convinced  that 
the  game  he  played  was  a  genuinely  dangerous  one, 
he  was  in  haste  to  get  afloat  where  he  belonged.  To 
dodge  the  wiles  of  an  ambushed  foe  was  not  what 
he  liked.  At  this  kind  of  warfare  the  Chinese  mind 
was  too  nimble  for  him. 

He  decided  that  he  would  keep  the  appointment 
to  meet  Charley  Tong  Sin  at  the  yamen  of  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  native  city.  No  mischance  was  likely 
to  befall  him  in  broad  daylight,  and,  given  the  oppor 
tunity,  he  would  seek  a  private  interview  with  that 
official.  This  business  despatched,  he  proposed  to 
show  the  water-front  of  Shanghai  how  speedily  a 
river  steamer  could  be  manned  and  taken  to  sea. 


350      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Having  eaten  breakfast  early  and  with  good  ap 
petite,  Captain  O'Shea  went  out  to  find  a  'rickshaw. 
Only  one  of  them  happened  to  be  standing  in  front 
of  the  hotel  and  he  had  little  trouble  in  making  the 
swarthy,  sturdy  fellow  in  the  shafts  understand  where 
he  wished  to  go.  The  coolie  set  off  at  a  racing  trot, 
whisking  the  vehicle  along  with  amazing  ease.  The 
passenger  had  not  outgrown  the  idea  that  it  was 
rather  absurd  and  unfair  for  an  able-bodied  person 
to  be  pulled  along  in  this  fashion  by  another  man 
no  stronger  than  himself.  Therefore,  he  nodded  ap 
proval  when  the  coolie  slackened  his  gait  and  yelled 
at  another  stalwart  Chinese  squatted  on  the  curb 
stone  who  picked  himself  up  and  ran  behind  the 
'rickshaw  as  "push-man,"  making  a  double  team  of  it. 

Moved  by  two-man  power,  the  light  vehicle  made 
a  speedy  passage  through  the  British  settlement  and 
turned  into  the  French  quarter  to  reach  the  near 
est  gate-way  of  the  native  city  wall.  Soon  the  order 
and  cleanliness  and  modernity  of  European  territory 
and  dominion  were  left  behind  and  the  'rickshaw  had 
spun  into  the  swarming,  filthy  streets  of  the  imme 
morial  China. 

"The  River  of  Ten  Thousand  Evil  Smells  can  be 
no  worse  than  this,"  said  O'Shea  to  himself,  "and 
for  the  love  of  heaven  was  there  ever  such  a  mess 
of  people  jumbled  together?" 

No  more  than  eight  or  ten  feet  wide,  the  alleys 
were  crowded  with  pedlers  and  street-merchants 
selling  cakes,  fish,  pork,  vegetables,  porcelain,  furs, 
embroideries,  pictures,  bamboo  pipes,  their  wares 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  351 

displayed  on  little  wooden  stands  or  spread  upon  the 
rutted  flag-stones. 

Jostling  among  them  were  laden  mules,  top-heavy 
wheelbarrows,  bawling  coolies  sweating  beneath  the 
burden  of  the  shoulder-yokes,  hordes  of  idlers, 
screaming  children,  until  it  was  to  wonder  why 
traffic  was  not  wholly  blockaded.  Into  this  ruck  of 
humanity,  this  immense  confusion  and  noise,  the  two 
'rickshaw  men  hurled  their  vehicle  like  a  projectile. 
They  shouted  incessantly,  threatening  and  reviling, 
nor  tried  to  pick  a  way  through  the  press.  These 
who  got  in  their  path  were  knocked  head  over  heels. 
Pedlers'  barrows  were  upset  helter-skelter.  The  on 
ward  course  of  Captain  O'Shea  was  as  destructive 
as  a  typhoon. 

He  yelled  at  his  headlong  chargers  to  slow  down. 
They  were  likely  to  cause  a  riot.  Already  a  mob 
was  buzzing  angrily  in  their  wake  and  several  mis 
siles  were  hurled  at  the  'rickshaw.  Captain  O'Shea 
had  the  sensations  of  a  man  who  was  being  run  away 
with.  This  brace  of  pig- tailed  fiends  had  bolted  hell- 
for-leather.  He  was  of  a  mind  to  jump  out  and  let 
them  go  their  own  gait,  but  this  enlarged  baby- 
carriage  of  a  'rickshaw  was  awkward  to  disembark 
from  while  under  way,  and  he  was  reluctant  to  risk 
landing  upon  his  head.  If  he  menaced  them  with  a 
revolver  the  mob  would  be  apt  to  join  forces  with 
them  against  the  foreigner.  Still,  this  might  be  the 
peculiar  fashion  of  conveying  a  gentleman  to  the 
governor's  yamen,  and  perhaps  he  had  better  sit 
tight  and  hold  hard  until  the  ship  struck  a  rock. 


352       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Presently,  however,  he  observed  that  several  big 
swarthy  men  in  blue  cotton  blouses  were  running 
alongside  the  coolie  in  the  shafts  and  holding  shouted 
converse  with  him.  They  appeared  to  be  friends  of 
his,  and  Captain  O'Shea  did  not  like  their  looks. 
They  were  hardier,  more  truculent  of  visage,  than 
the  pasty-faced  Shanghai  coolie  class.  The  tough 
has  the  same  ear-marks  the  world  over,  and  these 
fellows  were  ruffians  whom  one  would  not  care  to 
meet  in  the  dark. 

A  few  minutes  after  these  had  joined  company  the 
'rickshaw  turned  abruptly  from  one  of  the  crowded 
streets  and  moved  with  undiminished  speed  into  a 
wider  but  much  less  frequented  thoroughfare  lined 
with  stables,  straw-littered  court-yards  whose  build 
ings  were  in  ruinous  decay,  and  hovels  used  as 
slaughter-houses  where  mangy  dogs  prowled  in  search 
of  offal.  The  'rickshaw  tilted  and  veered  sharply  in 
the  direction  of  one  of  these  disreputable  court-yards, 
and  Captain  Michael  O'Shea,  quite  certain  that  he 
was  not  headed  toward  the  governor's  yamen,  acted 
decisively  and  on  the  spur  of  the  moment. 

Things  were  going  all  wrong  and  very  probably 
he  would  alight  from  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire,  but 
this  was  nothing  less  than  an  abduction.  The  coolie 
in  the  shafts  had  coiled  his  queue  under  his  cap, 
possibly  to  guard  against  the  very  manoeuvre  that 
O'Shea  executed.  But  the  wind  and  the  rapid  mo 
tion  had  loosed  the  end  of  the  thick  black  braid  and 
it  bobbed  between  his  shoulders  and  whipped  free  as 
he  ran. 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  353 

Bending  forward,  O'Shea  clutched  the  queue  in  a 
tremendous  grip  and  laid  back  as  if  he  were  hauling 
on  a  main-sheet.  The  rascal's  head  was  fetched  up 
with  a  dislocating  jerk,  his  feet  pawed  the  air  for  an 
instant,  and  his  hands  lost  their  hold  of  the  shafts. 
Then,  as  he  came  down  and  tried  vainly  to  get  a 
footing,  the  careering  'rickshaw  rammed  him  from 
behind  and  sent  him  sprawling  on  his  face.  Shot 
out  from  his  seat  went  Captain  O'Shea,  his  feet  in 
front  of  him,  a  revolver  in  his  fist,  ready  to  bound  up 
from  the  pavement  and  open  the  engagement  on  the 
instant. 

The  "push-man"  had  been  violently  poked  under 
the  chin  by  the  back  of  the  suddenly  halted  'rick 
shaw,  and  he  lay  groaning  and  doubled  up  several  feet 
away.  The  ruffianly  escort,  taken  by  surprise,  ran 
a  little  distance  before  they  could  wheel  and  return 
to  the  scene.  Captain  O'Shea  had  a  moment  in 
which  to  get  his  bearings  and  take  stock  of  the  situa 
tion.  Darting  for  the  nearest  wall,  he  braced  his 
back  against  it  and  stood  waiting.  The  big  swarthy 
rascals  in  the  blue  blouses  fiercely  jabbered  together, 
gazed  up  and  down  the  almost  deserted  street,  and 
with  no  more  delay  drew  knives  from  their  baggy 
breeches  and  charged  with  heads  down. 

O'Shea  threw  up  his  revolver  for  a  snap-shot  at 
the  foremost  of  them.  The  hammer  clicked.  There 
was  no  report.  He  pulled  the  trigger  again  with  the 
same  result.  For  the  third  time  the  hammer  fell 
with  the  same  futile,  sickening  click.  This  was  his 
finish.  The  thing  was  absurd,  incredible.  Raging, 


354      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

he  grasped  the  weapon  by  the  barrel  and  ran  for 
ward  to  swing  the  butt  against  the  nearest  shaven 
head.  A  long  knife  ripped  at  him  and  slashed  his 
sleeve.  He  cracked  the  man's  head,  but  the  others 
were  at  him  like  wolves.  He  dodged  and  tried  to 
take  to  his  heels,  but  the  two  'rickshaw  men  blocked 
his  path. 

One  of  the  assassins  had  worked  around  behind 
him  and  was  trying  to  trip  and  get  him  down  so 
that  they  could  cut  him  to  ribbons  at  their  leisure. 
The  knives  hemmed  him  in.  He  slipped  and  fell 
upon  one  knee.  The  ruffians  laughed. 

Then,  lo  and  behold!  they  were  scampering  franti 
cally  away,  yelling  in  fear,  scrambling  over  walls  like 
monkeys,  diving  into  the  stables  and  court-yards,  fly 
ing  for  the  lower  end  of  the  street.  In  a  twinkling 
Captain  O'Shea  was  alone,  magically  snatched  from 
death.  White  and  shaking,  he  stood  and  gazed  at 
a  near-by  corner  of  the  crooked  thoroughfare.  Filing 
past  it  came  a  squad  of  British  bluejackets  in  white 
clothes,  and  the  sun  winked  brightly  on  the  polished 
metal  of  their  rifles  and  cutlasses.  Beside  the  lieu 
tenant,  in  front  of  them,  strode  a  tall,  slim-waisted 
man  in  khaki  uniform  whom  O'Shea  recognized  as 
Inspector  Burke.  O'Shea's  assailants  had  been 
warned  in  time  to  scurry  to  cover  before  the  British 
party  had  more  than  a  flying  glimpse  of  them.  At 
a  quick  order  shouted  by  the  lieutenant,  the  sailors 
scattered  into  the  yards  and  squalid  buildings,  but  the 
fugitives  had  escaped  by  a  dozen  dark  and  devious 
exits  to  vanish  in  the  labyrinths  of  the  teeming,  mys- 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  355 

terious  native  city.  Inspector  Burke  was  pounding 
O'Shea  on  the  back  and  exclaiming  vigorously: 

"My  word,  old  chap!  What  sort  of  a  bally  row 
is  this?  The  beggars  nearly  did  for  you.  Lucky  we 
happened  along,  wasn't  it?" 

"  'Tis  all  of  that,"  earnestly  replied  the  shipmaster. 
"And  who  are  ye,  anyhow?  Is  this  a  fairy  story  or  a 
play  right  out  of  the  theatre?  You  came  on  the  stage 
about  one  second  before  the  curtain  rung  down." 

"Lef  tenant  Kemp  ton-Shaw — ah,  here  he  is — 
allow  me  to  present  him,  Captain  O'Shea — as  I  was 
about  to  say,  he  came  ashore  from  the  Warspite  gun 
boat  this  mornin'  with  a  batch  of  Chinese  pirates, 
the  real  thing,  don't  you  know.  He  took  them  out 
of  a  junk  after  a  rather  nice  little  shindy  last  week. 
He  marched  them  to  the  Chinese  prison  just  now, 
it's  in  this  quarter  of  the  native  city,  and  their  heads 
will  be  cut  off  to-morrow.  I'm  awfully  pleased  that 
we  were  taking  this  short  cut  home.  In  close  quar 
ters,  weren't  you?" 

"I  have  never  found  them  a  closer  fit,"  said 
O'Shea.  "I  was  on  me  way  for  a  chat  with  the 
governor,  and  a  gang  of  bad  citizens  tried  to  wipe 
me  out.  I  will  walk  along  with  you  if  ye  don't 
mind.  There  is  enough  Irish  in  me  to  waste  no 
great  love  on  the  British  flag,  but  I  will  say,  Lieu 
tenant  Kempton-Shaw,  that  I  never  laid  eyes  on  a 
finer,  handsomer  lot  of  men  than  these  lads  of  yours 
from  the  Warspite" 

"Thanks,  and  I  fancy  you  mean  it,"  smiled  the 
naval  officer.  "This  is  extraordinary,  by  Jove. 


356       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Foreigners  are  fairly  safe  in  the  native  city,  as  a  rule, 
are  they  not,  Burke?  What  do  you  make  of  it?" 

"I  shall  have  to  hear  Captain  O'Shea's  report." 

"I  have  no  long-winded  report  to  offer,"  incisively 
declared  the  shipmaster.  "I  have  me  suspicions, 
and  you  can  guess  what  they  are,  Inspector  Burke. 
'Tis  the  same  business  that  we  talked  about  in  your 
office.  But  I  wish  nothing  to  do  with  any  police 
investigations.  You  will  report  this  row  of  mine  to 
the  native  government,  I  have  no  doubt,  and  I  hope 
ye  will  try  to  collect  an  indemnity  for  me  distressed 
emotions,  but  I  have  no  time  to  dilly-dally  about  in 
Shanghai.  I  will  go  to  sea.  Will  you  help  me  find 
the  men?" 

"From  the  tone  of  your  voice  I  infer  that  your 
business  is  not  precisely  pacific,  my  dear  sir,"  put 
in  Lieutenant  Kempton-Shaw.  "Do  you  mind  let 
ting  the  War  spites  in  on  this  cruise  of  yours?" 

"Thank  you,  but  I  have  set  out  to  handle  it  as  an 
affair  of  me  own.  I  may  have  bit  off  more  than  I 
can  chew,  but  I  will  try  to  see  it  through." 

"Meet  me  at  my  office  at  noon  and  I'll  have  some 
men  for  you  to  look  over,"  said  Inspector  Burke. 
"I  will  pick  up  a  crew  for  you  if  I  have  to  make  a 
general  jail-delivery." 

As  they  trudged  along  Captain  O'Shea  became 
silent  and  abstracted.  He  was  not  in  a  mood  for 
conversation.  Conjecture  pointed  one  way.  He  had 
been  a  gullible  fool  who  deserved  to  have  a  knife 
stuck  in  his  ribs.  It  had  been  as  easy  to  trap  him  as 
though  he  were  a  lubber  on  his  first  voyage  out  from 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  357 

home.  It  had  been  with  design  that  only  one  'rick 
shaw  stood  hi  front  of  the  hotel  that  morning  when 
he  was  ready  to  go  to  the  native  city.  And  the 
pair  of  coolies  were  hired  cutthroats  who  had  steered 
him  into  the  disgusting  street  among  the  slaughter 
houses  in  order  that  he  might  be  done  away  with, 
leaving  never  a  trace  of  his  fate  behind  him. 

Reasoning  back  from  this  link  to  the  next  preced 
ing,  his  room  had  been  entered  and  ransacked  while 
he  was  safely  out  of  the  way  in  a  carriage  on  the 
Bubbling  Well  Road.  Some  time  had  been  required 
to  make  that  careful  examination  and  fit  keys  to 
his  hand-bag  and  trunk.  Also,  he  had  just  now  in 
vestigated  his  revolver  and  discovered  that  the  firing- 
pin  of  the  hammer  had  been  filed,  not  enough  for  the 
eye  to  notice  it,  but  sufficiently  to  cause  the  impact 
to  fail  to  explode  the  primer  of  the  cartridge. 

The  affable,  gilded  young  gentleman  who  had  in 
vited  him  to  drive  on  the  Bubbling  Well  Road  was 
the  same  kind  acquaintance  who  had  suggested  that 
he  take  a  'rickshaw  and  visit  the  native  city  in  the 
morning.  The  finger  of  coincidence  pointed  in  the 
direction  of  that  smartest  of  compradores,  Charley 
Tong  Sin. 

"That  kind  of  coincidence  is  unhealthier  than  the 
cholera,"  said  O'Shea  to  himself.  "Maybe  this 
sport  with  the  college  education  and  the  taste  for 
gin  cocktails  is  a  good  friend  of  mine,  but  I  will  give 
him  no  chance  to  prove  it  again.  I  have  been  on 
the  jump  ever  since  I  met  him.  If  he  is  not  crooked 
he  is  a  hoodoo.  And  'tis  not  impossible,  after  all, 


358       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

that  he  is  mixed  up  with  this  gang  of  murderers 
that  I  am  running  after.  The  heart  of  him  is 
Chinese." 

He  would  keep  these  suspicions  to  himself.  They 
lacked  tangible  proof,  and  he  held  to  the  view  that 
the  business  was  entirely  his  own.  He  had  plunged 
into  this  befogged  maze  of  circumstances  like  a  boy 
on  a  holiday,  and  it  was  for  him  to  extricate  himself 
like  a  man.  With  the  warmest  expressions  of  grati 
tude  he  parted  from  Inspector  Burke  and  the  naval 
lieutenant,  and  hastened  in  the  direction  of  the 
water-front. 

Less  than  an  hour  later  he  was  inspecting  a  light- 
draught  steamer  called  the  Whang  Ho  owned  by  the 
China  Navigation  Company.  She  was  old,  sadly  in 
need  of  repairs,  and  about  as  sea-worthy  for  rough 
weather  as  a  packing-box.  But  O'Shea  felt  confi 
dent  that  she  could  be  nursed  along  to  serve  his  pur 
pose,  and  the  larger,  better  vessels  available  for  char 
ter  at  short  notice  were  not  so  handy  for  exploring 
muddy  rivers  and  strange  corners.  Having  put  to 
sea  at  one  time  and  another  in  craft  which  were  held 
together  only  by  their  paint,  Captain  O'Shea  asked 
no  more  of  the  Whang  Ho  than  that  her  engines 
should  turn  over.  He  dared  not  examine  the  ma 
chinery  too  closely  lest  he  might  lose  confidence  in 
his  steamer,  but  the  owners'  agent  assured  him  that 
she  was  fit  for  service  and  he  took  his  word  for  it. 

"Start  her  fires  going  at  once,"  said  O'Shea,  "and 
if  enough  pressure  shows  on  the  gauges  to  turn 
her  wheel  as  she  lies  at  her  moorings,  I  will  sign  the 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  359 

charter-party  and  insurance  papers  and  slap  down 
the  two  thousand  dollars  for  a  month's  use  of  the 
venerable  relic." 

"That  is  fair  enough,"  replied  the  agent.  "  And  it 
is  as  good  as  done.  You  can  go  ahead  with  getting 
your  supplies,  Captain  O'Shea.  I  take  it  that  you 
want  to  do  a  bit  of  exploration  work  for  one  of  the 
American  syndicates?  We  have  done  quite  a  lot  of 
business  with  your  people  and  their  concessions." 

"It  may  be  something  like  that,"  briefly  returned 
O'Shea.  "And  now  will  you  be  kind  enough  to  tell 
me  where  to  order  a  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  steam 
coal  to  be  put  in  the  bunkers  this  very  day?" 

"Our  company  will  be  pleased  to  let  you  have  it, 
and  I  can  guarantee  prompt  delivery  from  lighters 
alongside  the  steamer.  Or  I  presume  that  Jordan, 
Margetson  will  do  the  same  for  you." 

"I  think  I  will  not  deal  with  Jordan,  Margetson," 
and  0' Shea's  voice  was  smooth  and  pleasant.  "The 
comprador  is  a  very  able  young  man." 

"Charley  Tong  Sin?  Well,  rather.  A  smart 
chap,  that." 

"Yes,  very.  I  wish  I  could  keep  my  razor  as 
sharp." 

Captain  O'Shea  next  visited  a  ship-chandler's  and 
submitted  his  list  of  stores,  making  it  a  condition  of 
payment  that  the  stuff  should  be  in  the  steamer 
before  sunset.  The  elderly  German  who  served  him 
had  the  tact  and  discretion  bred  of  long  experience 
with  the  seafarers  of  the  unexpected  Orient.  It  was 
his  business  to  sell  them  whatever  they  might  want, 


360      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

to  take  his  profit  and  ask  no  questions.  Yes,  he 
could  find  thirty  service  rifles  and  revolvers,  also 
cutlasses  of  the  best  steel.  They  were  of  patterns 
discarded  by  a  certain  European  government,  but 
excellent  weapons.  He  would  be  glad  to  sell  the 
captain  one,  five,  or  ten  thousand  jof  them.  The 
captain  was  not  a  man  to  wag  a  foolish  tongue;  one 
could  see  it  at  a  glance. 

"You  and  I  might  do  business  some  day,"  quoth 
O'Shea,  "but  I  am  too  busy  to  start  a  revolution  at 
present." 

He  sent  a  note  to  Paddy  Blake  asking  him  to  find 
a  dozen  Chinese  firemen  and  sailors  and  a  river  pilot, 
and  to  muster  them  ready  for  signing  articles  hi  the 
afternoon.  He  believed  the  old  Irishman  to  be  a 
ripened  scoundrel  at  his  own  trade,  but  suspected 
him  of  no  complicity  hi  the  manoeuvres  of  Charley 
Tong  Sin.  The  comprador  had  merely  used  Paddy 
Blake  as  a  means  of  making  the  acquaintance  of 
Captain  O'Shea. 

Five  minutes  after  noon  the  shipmaster  (he  had 
taken  a  decided  dislike  to  riding  in  'rickshaws) 
trudged  into  the  headquarters  building  of  Inspector 
Burke. 

"I  have  a  choice  collection  for  you  to  look  over," 
said  the  latter.  "They  are  waiting  in  another  room, 
and  I  should  call  them  a  worried  lot.  I  sent  my 
men  out  to  pick  them  up,  do  you  see,  and  they  have 
not  been  told  the  reason  why." 

"I  cannot  afford  to  be  particular,  Inspector  Burke. 
Let  me  at  them  and  I  will  see  whether  I  am  safer 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  361 

ashore  among  the  Chinese  or  at  sea  with  your  ex 
hibit  of  beach-combers." 

"Oh,  they  are  not  as  bad  as  that,"  the  inspector 
assured  him.  "I  should  scarcely  call  them  desperate 
Characters.  However,  while  I  wish  you  the  best  of 
luck,  old  chap,  I  shall  shed  never  a  tear  if  you  lose 
your  shipmates  somewhere  beyond  Shanghai.  Let 
us  call  them  soldiers  of  misfortune,  if  you  like." 

He  led  the  way  into  the  large  drill-room,  where  a 
score  or  more  of  men  stood  in  uneasy  attitudes  and 
appeared  not  at  all  comfortable  hi  this  environment. 
O'Shea  let  his  glance  rove  in  swift,  appraising  scru 
tiny  and  smiled  to  himself  as  he  recognized  one  famil 
iar  type  after  another.  He  had  recruited  such  men 
as  these  for  unostentatious  ventures  in  the  waters  of 
the  Spanish  Main.  Here  was  the  red-faced,  burly 
shipmaster  ready  with  a  glib  speech  and  fluent  curses 
to  explain  how  he  happened  to  be  without  his  papers; 
the  shambling  ne'er-do-well  with  the  slack  mouth 
and  the  weak  chin  who  had  fled  from  a  scrape  at 
home  to  lose  himself  in  foreign  ports;  the  tanned  ad 
venturer,  brave  and  resourceful,  who  was  fit  for 
nothing  else  than  the  life  of  a  rover;  the  battered  old 
seaman,  worn  out  by  the  hardships  of  the  forecastle, 
who  had  been  cast  adrift  from  the  hospital;  the  cash 
iered  army  officer  with  the  hall-mark  of  his  caste 
blurred  but  still  visible;  the  sharp-featured  young 
man  with  the  furtive  eye  who  lived  by  his  wits  and 
found  it  very  hard  living  indeed;  the  bleary  tropical 
tramp  who  would  sell  his  soul  for  a  drink  of  brandy. 

These  and  the  rest  of  them  were  seedy  in  various 


362       ADVENTURES  OF   CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

ways.  They  conveyed  a  sense  of  failure,  of  having 
lost  their  grip.  Their  clothes  did  not  signify  this 
so  much  as  what  life  had  written  in  their  faces. 
Several,  in  fact,  were  dressed  in  clean  white  duck  and 
linen.  They  were  fighting  hard  to  preserve  the  guise 
of  self-respect.  And  yet  every  man  of  them  had 
marched  to  police  headquarters  at  a  word  from  In 
spector  Burke  with  the  sick  fear  in  his  heart  that 
his  past  had  overtaken  him,  or  that  he  was  to  be 
deported  for  the  good  of  the  community,  or  that  he 
was  to  be  locked  up  as  a  vagrant. 

Inspector  Burke  felt  pity  for  them.  It  was  heart 
less  to  keep  the  poor  devils  in  this  painful  suspense. 
With  a  curt  nod  he  addressed  them  in  a  group,  for 
they  had  unwittingly  drifted  together  as  if  finding 
some  small  comfort  in  solidarity. 

"This  is  not  police  business,"  said  he.  "I  sent 
for  you  to  oblige  my  friend  Captain  O'Shea.  He 
will  explain  what  he  wants,  and  I  advise  you  to  play 
square  with  him  and  I'm  quite  sure  he  will  make  it 
worth  while." 

At  this  the  company  brightened  and  looked  im 
mensely  relieved.  The  hang-dog  manner  fled.  Shoul 
ders  were  braced,  heads  held  erect.  They  were  like 
different  men.  O'Shea  had  a  less  pessimistic  opinion 
of  them.  He  had  already  concluded  to  show  no 
finicky  taste  by  picking  and  choosing.  He  would 
take  them  in  a  lump,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent. 
Those  who  were  really  competent  would  soon  dis 
close  it  on  shipboard  and  they  could  help  him  ham 
mer  the  others  into  shape. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  363 

"My  speech  to  you  will  be  short  and  sweet,"  said 
he.  "I  need  men  for  a  voyage  coastwise  and  me 
steamer  will  be  ready  to  sail  to-night.  You  will  live 
well  and  I  expect  ye  to  obey  orders.  'Tis  not 
sailors'  work  or  I  should  not  take  on  your  kind. 
The  fewer  questions  ye  ask  the  more  popular  ye 
will  be  with  me.  The  pay  will  be  at  the  rate  of 
five  dollars  a  day  gold,  but  I  will  give  no  advances. 
I  want  ye  to  come  aboard  sober.  If  you  handle 
yourselves  like  men  I  will  pay  ye  a  bonus  at  the 
end  of  the  voyage.  Those  that  want  to  go  will  give 
me  their  names." 

Not  a  man  hung  back  or  asked  a  question.  They 
whispered  softly  among  themselves,  as  if  afraid  to 
make  a  slip  that  might  break  the  spell.  Captain 
O'Shea  had  one  thing  more  to  say  and  they  listened 
with  the  most  devout  attention. 

"I  took  note  of  the  small  Hotel  London  down  by 
the  water-side.  'Tis  a  clean,  decent  place  and  I  have 
had  a  word  with  the  landlord.  I  will  give  every 
man  me  card.  If  you  show  it  to  him  he  will  be 
pleased  to  entertain  ye  at  dinner  at  once,  and 
he  will  hand  ye  out  cigars  and  three  drinks  apiece, 
no  more.  And  I  will  meet  you  there  for  supper  at 
six  o'clock  to-night." 

"Excellent  strategy,"  murmured  Inspector  Burke. 

"By  the  way,"  cried  O'Shea  to  his  pleased  fol 
lowers,  "I  overlooked  something.  I  need  a  chief 
engineer.  Can  any  one  of  you  qualify?" 

It  appeared  that  none  of  them  was  sufficiently  ac 
quainted  with  the  internal  works  of  a  steamer  to  pass 


364       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

as  an  expert,  although  a  young  man  of  a  very  Cock 
ney  accent  thought  he  might  do  as  an  assistant. 

Inspector  Burke  made  haste  to  remark: 

"I  say,  let  me  give  you  the  very  man  for  the  job. 
Kittridge  is  his  name.  It's  rather  awkward,  for  he 
is  in  clink  at  present,  the  British  jail.  But  his  time 
expires  to-morrow — he  was  given  thirty  days — and 
I  dare  say  the  magistrate  will  be  willing  to  sign  re 
lease  papers  if  I  explain  the  situation." 

"I  am  not  asking  me  men  for  references,"  ob 
served  O'Shea,  "but,  as  a  matter  of  mild  curiosity, 
what  did  ye  put  this  Kittridge  away  for?" 

"He  tried  to  whip  my  entire  Sikh  police  force,  and 
he  made  a  jolly  good  beginning.  Then  his  ship 
sailed  away  and  left  him  in  quod.  He  was  engineer 
in  a  Cardiff  tramp.  A  very  good  man,  I  under 
stand." 

"He  sounds  like  it.  His  references  are  most  sat 
isfactory,  especially  what  he  did  to  your  turbanned 
cops,"  O'Shea  cordially  affirmed.  "Send  this  Kitt 
ridge  to  the  Hotel  London,  if  ye  please,  and  give 
him  this  card  of  mine,  and  tell  him  to  wait  for  me 
there." 

Through  the  afternoon  Captain  Michael  O'Shea, 
now  master  of  the  aged  river  steamer  Whang  Ho,  was 
the  busiest  and  most  energetic  of  men.  A  hundred 
and  one  things  presented  themselves  as  necessary 
to  be  done.  When  at  length  he  hurried  into  the 
Hotel  London  shortly  before  the  supper-hour  his 
men  were  waiting,  hopeful,  expectant,  cheerful, 
smoking  his  cigars  and  with  the  three  drinks  apiece 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  365 

tucked  under  their  belts.  Among  them  was  a  lanky, 
solemn  person  with  a  pair  of  gray  side-whiskers  and 
a  leathery  complexion  crisscrossed  by  a  net-work  of 
fine  wrinkles.  His  whole  appearance  was  eminently 
decorous  and  respectable  and  he  seemed  to  have 
strayed  into  the  wrong  company.  It  was  not  far 
fetched  to  conjecture  that  he  might  be  a  missionary 
from  some  station  in  the  Chinese  hinterland  who 
had  kindly  concerned  himself  with  the  souls  of  this 
congregation  of  black  sheep. 

Captain  O'Shea  bowed  to  him  with  a  puzzled, 
respectful  air,  at  which  the  pious  stranger  remarked: 

"Inspector  Burke  told  me  to  report  here  and  be 
damn  quick  about  it.  I  am  Kittridge,  and  I  hear 
you  are  wanting  an  engineer." 

"Excuse  me,  Mr.  Kittridge.  I  came  near  mis- 
takin'  you  for  a  sky-pilot.  And  so  your  favorite 
pastime  is  beating  up  Sikh  policemen!  I  have  a  job 
for  ye  at  double  the  wages  you  got  in  your  tramp 
steamer,  whatever  they  were.  Are  you  willing?" 

"I  would  sign  on  with  the  devil  himself  to  get 
clear  of  this  blankety-blank  pig-hole  of  a  blistering 
Shanghai,"  promptly  exclaimed  Mr.  Kittridge. 
"Where's  your  ship?  Shall  I  go  aboard  at  once?" 

"Please  take  a  look  at  the  engine-room  and  report 
to  me  here.  She  is  the  Whang  Ho,  tied  up  at  the 
China  Navigation  Company's  wharf.  Don't  be  too 
critical,  but  if  there's  work  that  is  absolutely  neces 
sary  I  will  send  ye  machinists  to  work  all  night." 

"I  know  the  condemned  little  hooker  by  sight," 
bitterly  quoth  Mr.  Kittridge  with  a  tug  at  his  star- 


366      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

board  whisker.  "Very  well,  sir.  I  will  take  a  squint 
at  her  and  make  out  my  list  of  engine-room  stores. 
Can  you  get  them  to-night?  " 

"The  ship-chandler  is  waiting  to  hear  from  me, 
and  I  have  sent  word  to  the  machine-shop,"  briefly 
answered  O'Shea. 

Paddy  Blake  had  very  promptly  raked  up  the  re 
quired  number  of  Chinese  hands  and  was  ready  to 
deliver  them  on  board  whenever  required.  To  the 
Hotel  London  he  came,  towing  by  the  arm  a  most 
extraordinarily  bent  and  shrivelled  anatomy  with  a 
wisp  of  a  white  queue,  whom  he  turned  over  to 
Captain  O'Shea  with  the  explanation: 

"Here  is  a  river  and  coastwise  pilot  for  ye  that  is 
as  wise  as  Confucius.  And  by  the  same  token,  I 
have  no  doubt  that  he  was  once  pilot  aboard  the 
junk  of  that  grand  old  philosopher  himself.  Or 
maybe  he  was  shipmates  with  Noah." 

The  ancient  mariner  croaked  a  phrase  or  two  in  a 
grating,  rusty  voice,  and  O'Shea  dubiously  observed: 

"If  he  talks  no  English  at  all  how  will  I  tell  him 
where  I  want  to  go?" 

"I  have  sent  ye  a  Chinese  bos'n  that  can  sling  th' 
pidgin,"  said  Paddy  Blake.  "Dearly  would  I  love 
to  know  where  ye  are  bound  and  what  bobbery  ye 
are  up  to,  Captain  Mike  O'Shea,  but  a  man  in  my 
business  has  learned  to  ask  no  more  silly  questions 
than  he  can  help." 

"Keep  that  magnum  on  ice  till  I  come  back  to 
Shanghai  and  I  will  spin  ye  the  yarn  in  the  little 
back  room  of  yours,  Paddy." 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  367 

"May  ye  come  back  right  side  up,"  warmly  ex 
claimed  the  old  man.  "By  th'  look  of  the  friends  ye 
have  mustered  to  go  wid  you,  I  wud  say  that  ye 
are  bound  out  on  what  th'  Shanghai  diplomats  call 
a  policy  of  binivolint  assimilation." 

The  report  of  the  aggrieved  Mr.  Kittridge  was  to 
the  effect  that  while  the  engines  of  the  Whang  Ho 
would  probably  take  her  to  sea  without  breaking 
down,  a  night's  work  on  the  condenser,  not  to  men 
tion  a  leaky  cylinder,  would  considerably  improve 
her  health.  Captain  O'Shea  told  him  to  drive  ahead 
with  these  repairs;  nor  was  the  delay  worth  fretting 
about.  Things  had  gone  amazingly  well  thus  far 
and  the  Whang  Ho  would  be  ready  to  sail  in  the 
morning.  He  had  no  desire  to  spend  another  night 
ashore,  and  he  would  take  his  company  on  board  at 
once,  assign  them  to  quarters,  and  make  a  tentative 
organization  for  sea  duty. 

The  Whang  Ho  had  been  fitted  for  passenger  ser 
vice  on  the  Yang-tse,  and  there  were  state-rooms  on 
the  upper  deck  to  hold  twice  the  number  of  O'Shea's 
recruits.  In  the  Chinese  draft  sent  aboard  by  Paddy 
Blake  were  a  cook  and  a  steward  trained  to  their 
business,  and  they  put  things  to  rights  in  their  quiet, 
deft  way.  The  mood  of  Captain  O'Shea  became 
normally  cheerful  and  confident.  He  had  a  deck 
under  his  feet,  his  word  was  law,  and  it  was  good  to 
hear  the  lap  of  salt  water  and  the  swirl  of  the  tide 
against  a  vessel's  side. 

He  was  awake  and  about  until  midnight.  The 
work  in  the  engine-room  was  progressing  rapidly  un- 


368       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

der  the  vehement  direction  of  Mr.  Kittridge.  Feel 
ing  the  need  of  sleep,  for  the  preceding  night  had 
been  a  broken  one,  Captain  O'Shea  set  a  watch  in 
charge  of  the  burly  shipmaster  of  his  company  whom 
he  appointed  first  mate  and  went  to  his  bunk  in  the 
cabin  just  abaft  the  wheel-house.  At  three  o'clock 
Mr.  Kittridge,  very  hot  and  grimy,  rapped  on  the 
door  and  gruffly  announced  that  the  machinists  had 
gone  ashore  and  he  proposed  to  turn  in  and  sleep 
until  sailing-time. 

At  six  o'clock  Captain  O'Shea  went  on  deck  in  his 
pajamas  to  order  the  steward  to  fetch  him  a  cup  of 
coffee.  He  saw  no  reason  why  the  steamer  should 
not  get  under  way  at  once.  The  Chinese  steward 
came  not  at  his  call  and  he  betook  himself  to  the 
galley.  A  fire  was  burning  in  the  range,  rice  and 
potatoes  were  cooking  in  the  pots,  bacon  sliced  on 
the  table  ready  for  frying,  but  there  was  no  cook. 
O'Shea  looked  puzzled  and  started  for  the  forecastle. 
On  the  way  he  met  his  first  mate  whose  demeanor 
was  distressed  and  excited. 

"I  was  about  to  call  you,  sir,"  he  exclaimed,  his 
red  face  working  with  emotion.  "You  will  think 
I've  made  a  hash  of  my  first  night  on  duty,  but  this 
insane  business  happened  like  a  shot  out  of  a  gun, 
sir.  Not  ten  minutes  ago  the  Chinamen,  every  last 
one  of  'em,  came  boiling  on  deck  and  went  over  the 
side  to  the  wharf  like  so  many  rats.  And  they  never 
did  stop  running.  They  were  scared;  it  was  a  panic; 
but  they  didn't  stop  to  jabber.  They  just  flew,  and 
most  of  'em  left  their  dunnage  behind." 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  369 

"The  divil  you  say,"  muttered  O'Shea,  and  he 
rubbed  his  head  in  slightly  bewildered  fashion. 
"That  must  have  been  just  before  I  stepped  on  deck, 
Mr.  Parkinson.  And  ye  have  no  idea  at  all  what  it 
was  about?" 

"Not  the  slightest,  sir.  I  hope  you  don't  blame 
me.  I'd  have  sailed  into  the  thick  of  them  with 
my  fists,  but  it  was  like  chasing  so  many  greased 
pigs.  They  vanished  before  you  could  more  than 
wink." 

"What  about  the  fires?"  snapped  the  captain. 
"Have  you  been  below?" 

"Yes,  sir.  The  first  thing  I  did  was  to  find  Mr. 
Kittridge.  He  is  in  the  engine-room,  and  he  told 
me  to  send  down  half  a  dozen  of  our  white  men  to 
keep  up  steam." 

"Good  enough!  Now  sing  out  for  a  volunteer 
cook,  and  I  will  investigate  this  comical  performance. 
Did  anybody  get  aboard  to  talk  to  these  Chinamen?  " 

"Not  a  soul,  sir.  I'm  sure  of  it.  I  had  a  reliable 
man  at  the  gangway,  and  another  on  the  wharf." 

"I  believe  you.  While  I  look  around  a  bit,  get 
the  ship  ready  to  go  to  sea,  Mr.  Parkinson.  'Tis  not 
in  me  mind  to  be  hung  up  in  port  very  long." 

A  sailing  junk  was  attempting  to  reach  with  the 
morning  breeze  across  the  wide  stretch  of  river. 
Hauling  close  to  the  wharf  at  which  the  Whang  Ho 
was  moored,  the  junk  attempted  to  come  about,  but 
missed  stays  in  lubberly  fashion  and  hung  in  the 
wind  as  she  slowly  drifted  past  the  steamer's  stern. 
The  Chinese  who  clung  to  the  long  tiller,  and  the 


370       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

others  who  stood  upon  the  poop  or  hauled  on  the 
cordage,  were  gazing  with  signs  of  excitement  at  the 
Whang  Ho.  Several  of  them  gesticulated,  and  their 
ringers  were  aimed  at  the  rounded,  overhanging  stern 
of  Captain  O' Shea's  vessel.  He  caught  sight  of 
those  antics  and  walked  aft. 

There  was  no  good  reason  why  the  crew  of  the 
passing  junk  should  make  such  a  fuss  over  this  com 
monplace  river  steamer.  Their  singular  interest  in 
her  might  be  worth  trying  to  fathom.  Without  de 
laying  to  seek  the  gangway,  he  threw  his  leg  around 
a  tautened  hawser  and  slid  down  to  the  wharf.  Run 
ning  out  to  the  end  of  it,  he  commanded  a  clear  view 
of  the  stern  of  the  Whang  Ho.  Upon  the  white  wood 
work,  just  above  the  counter,  was  painted  in  broad 
strokes  of  bright  vermilion  the  sprawling  Chinese 
character  which  had  been  gashed  in  the  back  of  the 
sailor  named  Jim  Eldridge. 

Captain  O'Shea  hastily  returned  on  board  and 
climbed  over  the  after  rail,  belaying  a  loose  end  of 
heaving-line  and  resting  his  foot  in  the  loop  so  that 
he  was  able  to  let  himself  down  until  he  could  touch 
the  uppermost  smear  of  vermilion  paint.  It  rubbed 
off  on  his  hand,  fresh  and  wet,  and  must  have  been 
applied  during  the  night.  His  Chinese  crew  had  dis 
covered  it  there.  Perhaps  some  one  had  sung  out 
the  information  from  a  passing  junk  or  sampan. 
At  any  rate,  this  was  what  had  made  them  quit  the 
steamer.  A  charge  of  dynamite  could  have  made 
their  exodus  no  more  expeditious.  The  word  had 
flown  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  they  fled  from  the 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  371 

ship  as  from  the  plague.  Even  the  incredibly  aged 
pilot  had  hobbled  away  with  the  rest  of  them,  fear 
restoring  an  agility  long  since  departed. 

"The  hoodoo  again!"  reflectively  exclaimed 
O'Shea.  "  I  thought  I  had  got  clear  of  it.  'Tis  not 
so  much  to  frighten  me  this  time  as  to  delay  the 
voyage.  Somebody  is  anxious  to  send  word  up  the 
coast  ahead  of  me  to  let  some  one  else  know  I  am 
coming.  That  is  a  guess,  and  'tis  as  good  as  the 
next  one." 

He  would  find  Paddy  Blake  at  once  and  discuss 
the  matter  with  him.  Perhaps  he  could  ship  another 
crew  and  leave  port  before  the  news  had  time  to 
spread  among  the  Chinese  seafarers.  Telling  Mr. 
Parkinson  to  see  to  it  that  the  vermilion  paint  was 
instantly  removed,  he  set  out  on  foot  along  the 
water-front.  At  this  early  hour,  there  was  no  stir  of 
business  among  the  foreign  shipping-houses.  Passing 
a  substantial  brick  building,  Captain  O' Shea's  eye 
was  held  for  an  instant  by  the  brass  sign  on  one  of 
the  doors,  "  Jordan,  Margetson  &  Co."  He  happened 
to  be  thinking  quite  assiduously  just  then  of  the 
courteous  comprador,  Charley  Tong  Sin.  He  halted 
and  stared  hard  at  the  door  in  front  of  him  which 
was  ajar. 

It  was  too  early  for  any  of  the  clerks  to  be  about. 
With  an  impulse  which  had  no  definite  purpose  be 
hind  it,  Captain  O'Shea  pushed  open  the  door  and 
quietly  stepped  into  the  hallway  and  thence  into  the 
main  office  with  its  row  of  desks.  The  room  was 
empty,  and  he  moved  in  the  direction  of  the  smaller, 


372       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

detached  offices  in  the  rear,  still  treading  softly. 
Yes,  the  shrewd  and  zealous  comprador,  so  faithful 
to  his  employers'  interests,  was  already  at  work. 
When  the  visitor  caught  sight  of  him  he  was  bending 
over  a  table  littered  with  papers,  intent  on  arranging 
and  filing  them.  Possibly  his  ears  were  as  quick  as 
his  wits  and  he  had  heard  Captain  O'Shea  before 
seeing  him.  Unruffled  and  smiling,  with  an  air  of 
delighted  surprise,  the  comprador  exclaimed,  ad 
vancing  with  hand  outstretched: 

"How  glad  I  am  to  see  you  again!  The  top  of  the 
morning!  Were  you  looking  to  find  me?  Ah,  I  am 
the  early  bird,  you  bet." 

"I  expected  to  sail  by  now,  but  there  has  been  a 
bit  of  trouble  with  me  native  crew,"  replied  the  ship 
master,  wary  as  a  hawk.  "I  saw  your  place  was 
open  and  I  dropped  in  on  the  chance  of  bidding  ye 
farewell.  You  mentioned  the  other  night  that  you 
sometimes  came  down  early." 

"That  is  the  deuce  of  my  business,  Captain,"  easily 
returned  Charley  Tong  Sin.  "Trouble  with  your 
crew?  Can  I  help  you?  Do  you  need  men?  I  am 
sorry  you  didn't  come  to  me  in  the  first  place." 

"I  wish  I  had.  'Twas  old  Paddy  Blake  I  first 
turned  to  as  one  Irishman  to  another.  And  maybe 
I  was  wrong  in  not  asking  your  advice  about  the 
steamer." 

If  this  were  a  fencing-match,  then  O'Shea  had 
scored  the  first  point.  His  bold,  ingenuous  features 
expressed  not  the  slightest  change  of  emotion,  but 
in  an  instant  he  had  discovered  that  which  clinched 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  373 

and  drove  home  his  suspicions  of  Charley  Tong  Sin. 
The  comprador  put  a  fresh  cigarette  to  his  lips 
and  held  a  lighted  match  between  his  fingers,  un 
aware  that  the  flare  conveyed  a  fleeting  translu- 
cence.  Underneath  the  beautifully  polished  nails  of 
his  thumb  and  forefinger  there  showed  a  line  of  ver 
milion  which  the  most  careful  scrubbing  had  failed 
to  eradicate.  It  was  the  color  of  the  paint  which 
had  been  smeared  on  the  stern  of  the  Whang  Ho 
in  the  form  of  a  sprawling  Chinese  character. 

The  luck  of  Captain  Michael  O'Shea  so  ordered  it 
that  he  should  observe  this  phenomenon  before  the 
flare  of  the  match  died  out.  Thereupon  he  lied 
swiftly  and  plausibly,  the  purpose  hot  in  his  heart 
to  find  a  pretext  that  should  coax  the  comprador  to 
accompany  him  on  board  the  Whang  Ho.  To  a 
sympathetic  query  Captain  O'Shea  smoothly  made 
answer: 

"I  am  the  kind  of  a  man  that  will  own  up  to  his 
own  mistakes.  I  thought  I  could  go  it  alone  when 
I  ought  to  have  been  glad  and  thankful  for  the  help 
of  a  man  like  yourself.  Between  us,  I  am  not 
anxious  to  go  to  sea  in  this  old  tub  that  I  have 
chartered  from  the  China  Navigation  Company. 
And  now  that  I  am  delayed  for  lack  of  a  crew,  maybe 
you  can  show  me  a  way  to  slip  out  of  the  bargain. 
My  chief  engineer  finds  the  vessel  is  not  at  all  what 
she  was  represented  to  be.  I  took  her  subject  to 
certain  conditions  and  she  cannot  make  good." 

"I  told  you  you  would  be  stung  in  Shanghai 
without  me,"  laughed  Charley  Tong  Sin  in  the 


374       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

greatest  good-humor.  "Better  chuck  up  the  Whang 
Ho  and  let  me  find  you  a  steamer." 

"That  I  will  do,  and  gladly,"  affirmed  O'Shea. 
"Have  ye  time  to  step  aboard  with  me  now  and  I 
will  show  you  how  I  have  been  buncoed.  Then  ye 
can  advise  me  how  to  break  the  charter.  I  have  a 
good  case." 

"Of  course  I  will,"  cried  the  comprador.  "Pooh, 
we  will  bluff  the  China  Navigation  Company  out  of 
its  boots.  I  will  make  them  look  like  thirty  cents." 

"You  are  the  smartest  comprador  between  Tien 
tsin  and  Singapore,  according  to  Paddy  Blake,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  of  it,"  sweetly  murmured  Captain 
O'Shea. 

"That's  what  everybody  says,"  affably  rejoined 
Charley  Tong  Sin  as  they  walked  into  the  street. 
"What  is  the  trouble  with  your  crew?" 

"You  can  search  me.  I  cannot  find  out  for  the 
life  of  me.  They  up  and  jumped  ship  without  warn- 
ing." 

"I  will  get  more  men  for  you.  Leave  it  to  me. 
You  have  come  to  the  right  place  this  time,  Captain 
O'Shea." 

Chatting  amiably,  the  twain  came  to  the  wharf  and 
climbed  the  gangway  of  the  Whang  Ho.  That  anx 
ious  first  mate,  Mr.  Parkinson,  pitiably  afraid  lest 
he  lose  his  billet  and  be  turned  adrift  because  he  had 
failed  to  prevent  the  desertion  of  the  crew,  bright 
ened  perceptibly  at  sight  of  Charley  Tong  Sin  and 
concluded  that  this  influential  young  man  had  been 
persuaded  to  mend  the  troubles. 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  375 

"Come  to  my  room,  if  ye  please,"  said  Captain 
O'Shea  to  the  smiling  comprador,  "and  I  will  sum 
mon  my  chief  engineer.  He  will  tell  you  that  the 
steamer  is  not  fit  to  make  three  knots  an  hour,  and 
then  we  will  go  below." 

The  shipmaster  beckoned  Mr.  Parkinson  to  fol 
low.  The  trio  were  passing  through  the  wide  hall 
of  the  main  cabin  when  Captain  O'Shea  halted. 
Swinging  on  his  heel,  he  stood  facing  Charley  Tong 
Sin,  who  started  slightly,  for  the  visage  of  Captain 
O'Shea  was  stern  and  lowering. 

What  followed  was  instantaneous.  The  ship 
master's  fist  shot  out  and  collided  with  the  jaw  of 
the  comprador,  who  measured  his  length  on  the  floor 
and  appeared  to  be  wrapped  in  slumber.  Only  the 
toes  of  his  neat  patent-leather  shoes  oscillated  gently. 
The  expression  of  his  face  was  singularly  peaceful. 
The  oblique  eyelids  were  closed. 

The  aghast  Mr.  Parkinson  sputtered  in  great  dis 
may: 

"My  God,  sir,  what  have  you  done?  We'll  all 
go  to  jail  for  this.  This  is  Jordan,  Margetson's 
right-hand  man." 

"I  have  given  him  a  sleeping-powder,"  said  O'Shea. 
"Take  him  by  the  heels  while  I  carry  the  other  end 
of  him  and  we  will  lock  him  in  a  spare  state-room. 
Put  a  guard  over  him.  If  he  squeals,  hit  him  again 
and  keep  him  quiet." 

The  mate  was  about  to  renew  his  protests,  but  his 
voice  died  in  his  throat.  Perceiving  that  he  wa 
vered  miserably,  Captain  O'Shea  spoke  once  more, 
and  his  accents  were  hard: 


376       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"You  can  make  your  choice,  Mr.  Parkinson.  Ye 
sail  with  me  and  you  play  my  game  or  you  can  go 
ashore  to  rot  and  starve  on  the  beach,  same  as  when 
I  picked  ye  out  of  the  gutter.  I  have  given  this 
dirty  young  Chinese  blackguard  a  taste  of  what  is 
coming  to  him.  Will  ye  fall  to  or  shall  I  kick  you 
out  of  the  ship?" 

"I — I  will  take  your  orders,  sir,"  stammered  the 
other. 

"Then  help  me  get  this  steamer  to  sea.  We  will 
wait  for  no  more  Chinese  sailors.  Muster  all  hands 
on  the  upper  deck." 

They  came  piling  up  from  the  hold  and  the  dining- 
room  abaft  the  galley,  where  most  of  them  had  been 
at  breakfast.  The  inanimate  comprador  was  no 
longer  visible. 

"Will  you  sail  with  me  at  once  or  lose  the  chance 
of  making  the  voyage?"  demanded  O'Shea.  "Some 
of  you  will  have  to  shovel  coal  and  others  wash  dishes 
and  do  seamen's  duty  on  deck.  But  I  will  pay  ye 
extra  for  it,  and  we  will  take  this  old  box  of  a  steamer 
to  where  we  want  to  go." 

The  response  was  hearty  and  unanimous.  The 
adventurers  could  think  of  no  worse  fate  than  to  be 
once  more  stranded  hi  Shanghai.  They  were  well 
fed,  they  had  slept  in  clean  beds  again,  and  their  em 
ployer  was  a  man  who  could  be  trusted  to  deal  with 
them  fairly.  With  a  spirited  cheer  they  scattered 
to  their  various  stations.  The  chief  engineer  spoke 
briefly,  his  gray  whiskers  standing  out  in  the  morn 
ing  breeze: 

"Nobody  but  a  wild  Irishman  would  have  the 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  377 

nerve  to  take  this  painted  coffin  to  sea  with  a  gang 
of  misbegotten  greenhorns  to  man  her.  I  have 
steam  enough  to  give  her  steerage-way  whenever 
you're  ready  to  cast  off,  Captain  O'Shea." 

"Then  let  go,  fore  and  aft,"  roared  the  master. 
"Are  ye  pilot  enough  to  take  her  down  the  river, 
Mr.  Parkinson?" 

"I  could  do  it  with  both  eyes  shut,  but  I'm  not  so 
familiar  with  the  coast  to  the  north'ard." 

"  I  have  a  pilot  for  the  part  of  the  coast  and  the 
river  we  are  bound  for,"  grimly  returned  O'Shea. 
"He  is  locked  in  a  spare  state-room  just  now.  He 
will  know  that  part  of  China  very  well,  for  'tis  me 
opinion  that  he  has  been  there  before." 

V 

OVER  a  mournful,  muddy  expanse  of  the  China 
Sea  wallowed  a  top-heavy  river  steamer  whose  en 
gines  raised  protesting  clamor  like  an  assemblage  of 
threshing-machines.  The  gods  of  the  air  and  water 
were  in  a  kindly  mood  or  else  she  would  have  opened 
up  and  foundered  ere  now.  In  the  spray-swept 
wheel-house  stood  Captain  Michael  O'Shea,  swaying 
easily  to  the  crazy  roll  and  lurch  of  the  Whang  Ho 
and  scanning  the  low  dim  coast  with  a  pair  of 
glasses.  Clinging  to  the  window  ledge  beside  him 
was  a  young  man  of  a  Chinese  countenance  whose 
raiment,  the  handiwork  of  a  fashionable  British 
tailor,  was  sadly  rumpled  and  soiled.  The  whole 
aspect  of  the  young  man  was  rumpled,  in  fact,  not 


378       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

to  say  excessively  forlorn,  and  now  and  then  he 
pressed  his  hand  against  a  painful  jaw.  It  was  diffi 
cult  to  imagine  that  he  had  been  an  ornament  of 
clubs,  a  pattern  for  the  gilded  youth,  and  the  smart 
est  comprador  between  Tientsin  and  Singapore. 

The  plight  of  Charley  Tong  Sin  was  made  poig 
nantly  distressing  by  the  fact  that  in  the  process  of 
acquiring  the  vices  of  the  Occident  he  had  lost  his 
grip  on  the  essential  virtues  of  the  Orient.  His  na 
tive  stoicism  had  been  sapped  and  the  fatalistic  atti 
tude  of  mind  which  meets  death  without  so  much  as 
the  nutter  of  an  eyelid  was  eaten  with  dry-rot.  In 
other  words,  the  comprador  was  willing  to  pay  any 
price  to  save  his  own  skin,  although  his  father  before 
him  would  have  suffered  himself  to  be  sliced  to  death 
by  inches  sooner  than  "lose  face"  in  the  presence  of  a 
foreigner. 

Captain  Michael  O'Shea's  method  of  extracting 
information  from  this  kidnapped  passenger  had  been 
brutally  simple  and  direct.  Charley  Tong  Sin  was 
informed  that  he  could  make  a  clean  breast  of  it  or 
be  thrown  overboard.  And  the  shipmaster,  when 
he  was  thoroughly  in  earnest,  had  a  way  of  con 
veying  the  impression  that  he  meant  what  he  said. 
He  believed  that  he  knew  his  man.  The  comprador 
was  strongly  reluctant  to  have  his  head  lopped  off  by 
the  sword  of  a  native  executioner,  which  was  very 
likely  to  happen  if  this  terrible  O'Shea  should  turn 
him  over  to  the  Chinese  authorities.  Given  the 
promise  of  immunity  in  exchange  for  a  confession,  he 
could  flee  to  Japan  or  the  Straits  Settlements  and 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  379 

live  handsomely  in  the  society  of  other  Chinese  exiles 
with  the  funds  that  he  had  piled  up  during  his  brief 
and  brilliant  business  career.  Likewise  there  would 
be  opportunities  in  shipping  and  commerce  for  a 
comprador  of  his  uncommon  ability. 

"I  would  honestly  enjoy  killing  you,  Charley," 
said  Captain  O'Shea  as  they  stood  together  in  the 
wheel-house  of  the  Whang  Ho.  "You  are  a  smart 
lad,  but  ye  got  too  gay  with  me,  and  you  over 
played  your  game  when  ye  slipped  under  the  counter 
of  this  steamer  in  a  sampan  in  the  dark  of  the  night 
and  got  busy  with  the  red  paint.  That  sort  of  silly 
jugglery  was  the  Chinese  of  it,  I  suppose.  Now,  I 
have  tried  to  make  it  plain  that  your  life  is  not  worth 
a  pinch  of  snuff  to  any  one  of  us.  There  is  not  a 
man  in  the  ship  that  wants  to  lay  eyes  on  Shanghai 
ever  again.  They  will  be  only  too  glad  to  quit  the 
country  if  they  have  the  price  in  their  pockets,  and 
I  will  give  them  the  price.  So  ye  must  not  hold  to 
the  notion  that  we  are  afraid  of  getting  in  trouble 
on  your  account." 

"I  am  worth  more  to  you  alive  than  if  I  am  dead," 
sullenly  muttered  Charley  Tong  Sin.  "Is  it  not  so? 
You  think  I  will  be  handy  as  a  pilot,  as  an  interpre 
ter?  I  have  been  doing  a  deuce  of  a  lot  of  thinking. 
I  am  no  fool,  Captain  O'Shea.  I  know  pretty  well 
when  I  am  licked.  I  made  a  botch  of  it  in  Shanghai. 
You  went  blundering  about  like  a  buffalo,  and  I 
thought  it  was  a  cinch  to  get  you  out  of  the  way." 

"'Twas  the  luck  of  the  Irish  that  pulled  me 
through,"  said  O'Shea.  "Now  we  understand  each 


380      ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

other,  Charley,  me  lad.  I  am  staking  all  I  have — me 
life  and  me  money — to  get  to  the  bottom  of  this 
infernal  secret  society  you  have  mixed  yourself  up 
with.  "Tis  an  instrument  I  am  for  the  good  of 
humanity.  And  if  ye  turn  state's  evidence  to  en 
able  me  to  make  a  clean,  thorough  job  of  it,  I  think 
I  am  justified  in  giving  you  a  chance  to  hot-foot  it 
out  of  China." 

"Let  us  call  it  a  bargain,  Captain  O'Shea.  As  we 
used  to  say  in  New  York,  I  am  up  against  it  good 
and  plenty.  To  commit  suicide,  as  many  Chinese 
would  do  in  a  fix  like  this,  is  all  tommy-rot.  Charley 
Tong  Sin  could  have  no  more  gin  cocktails — what?" 

"You  can  begin  the  confession  right  away,"  ex 
claimed  the  shipmaster. 

"One  thing  at  a  time,"  cheerfully  replied  the  com 
prador.  "I  will  take  you  to  the  River  of  Ten 
Thousand  Evil  Smells  and  the  village  of  Wang-Li-Fu. 
Then  you  will  find  many  very  interesting  things  to 
ask  me  to  talk  about." 

"And  ye  hope  to  give  me  the  slip  in  the  mean 
time,"  and  Captain  O'Shea  showed  no  ill-will. 
"Very  well,  Charley.  One  thing  at  a  time.  Now 
take  these  glasses  and  have  a  look  at  the  coast.  By 
my  reckoning,  we  are  far  enough  to  the  north'ard 
to  begin  to  haul  inshore." 

The  Whang  Ho  was  laboring  abeam  of  a  monoto 
nous  expanse  of  marshy  islands  and  ragged  shoals 
made  by  the  silt  of  river  floods.  The  shifting  chan 
nels  were  poorly  charted,  for  trade  sought  the 
inland  water-ways.  The  fact  that  the  Tai  Van 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  381 

steamer,  with  McDougal  and  Jim  Eldridge  on  board, 
had  somehow  found  a  passage  leading  from  the  sea 
convinced  Captain  O'Shea  that  he  could  do  likewise 
with  a  considerably  smaller  vessel.  Charley  Tong 
Sin  had  admitted  that  he  knew  the  way  in,  and  he 
was  no  more  anxious  to  be  drowned  than  the  rest  of 
the  company. 

"With  good  luck  we  can  scrape  over  the  sand 
bars  on  the  afternoon  tide,"  said  the  comprador, 
"and  anchor  in  deep  water  for  the  night.  I  cannot 
show  you  where  to  go  in  the  dark.  There  are  no 
lights." 

The  Whang  Ho  edged  steadily  nearer  the  coast. 
Her  crew  gazed  ahead  at  the  frothing  breakers  that 
tumbled  over  the  far-extended  shoals,  and  appeared 
unhappy.  By  a  miracle  their  steamer  was  still  under 
them  after  struggling  through  rough  winds  and  high 
seas,  and  now  they  were  to  be  wrecked,  so  all  signs 
indicated,  in  a  God-forsaken  region  of  sand  and 
swamp  and  mud.  However,  there  was  no  whimper 
ing.  Captain  O'Shea,  their  overlord,  had  a  trick  of 
knocking  a  man  down  and  then  listening  to  his  com 
plaints.  And  he  was  as  ready  with  a  word  of  com 
mendation  as  he  was  with  his  disciplinary  fists. 

"  Mr.  Kittridge,  if  we  hit  bottom,  put  it  to  her  and 
jam  her  over,"  he  remarked  to  the  chief  engineer. 
"A  chum  of  mine  by  the  name  of  Johnny  Kent  that 
sailed  with  me  and  held  your  berth  used  to  clamp 
his  safety-valves  when  he  had  urgent  need  of  steam. 
Did  ye  ever  try  it?  " 

"God  forbid!"  fervently  ejaculated  Mr.  Kittridge; 


382       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"but  in  this  crazy  tub  a  man  will  do  anything. 
If  you  find  yourself  flyin'  to  glory  with  a  section  of 
a  boiler  pokin'  in  the  small  of  your  back,  don't  lay 
it  against  .me,  sir." 

"I  like  the  way  ye  talk,  Mr.  Kittridge.  Stand  by 
your  engines,  if  ye  please,  for  we  will  be  in  the  white 
water  before  long." 

The  Whang  Ho  sheered  to  one  side  and  shouldered 
past  the  outermost  shoals.  O'Shea  took  the  wheel, 
and  Charley  Tong  Sin,  cool  and  quick-witted,  told 
him  how  to  follow  the  turbid,  twisting  channel  that 
wound  its  course  between  the  sea  and  the  wide 
mouth  of  the  estuary.  More  than  once  the  steamer 
scraped  the  oozy  bottom,  hung  and  shivered  while 
the  breakers  pounded  her,  and  then  stubbornly 
forged  ahead,  timbers  groaning,  boilers  hissing,  pro 
peller  kicking  up  clouds  of  mud  astern.  It  was  evi 
dent  that  the  channel  had  shoaled  in  places  since 
any  other  steamer  had  made  the  passage,  and  it  was 
not  at  all  certain  that  the  Whang  Ho  could  stand  the 
strain  of  forcing  her  way  to  sea  again. 

"I  have  not  been  here  since  two  years  ago,"  said 
the  comprador.  "It  is  worse  than  I  expected,  you 
bet!  Ai  oh,  a  man  that  sails  with  you  dies  a  dozen 
deaths,  Captain  O'Shea." 

"  I  find  it  more  comfortable  than  living  in  the  best 
hotel  in  Shanghai,"  very  pointedly  returned  the  ship 
master  as  he  climbed  the  spokes  of  the  big  wooden 
wheel  with  hands  and  feet  and  wrenched  the  Whang 
Ho  clear  of  a  hungry  sand-spit.  By  now  she  was 
fairly  in  the  midst  of  the  marshy  islands  that  ex- 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  383 

tended  from  the  watery  main-land.  The  violence  of 
the  surf  was  broken  and  the  tide  moved  in  broad, 
sluggish  currents.  Mr.  Parkinson,  who  was  swing 
ing  the  sounding  lead,  shouted  that  the  channel  had 
deepened  to  five  fathoms.  The  steamer  had  survived 
the  passage. 

Two  miles  farther  inland  she  let  go  anchor  in  a 
wide  lagoon.  The  afternoon  had  waned.  A  cloudy 
twilight  was  closing  down.  On  every  hand  stretched 
a  flat,  unbroken  region  of  swamp  and  creeks  and 
rivers.  No  villages  were  visible  nor  groves  of  trees 
against  the  sky-line  to  mark  the  situation  of  a  temple. 
A  few  small  fishing-boats  with  ragged  sails  fled  at 
sight  of  the  foreign  steamer.  The  comprador  waved 
his  hand  to  starboard  and  exclaimed: 

"Yonder  it  is,  the  River  of  Ten  Thousand  Evil 
Smells,  as  you  call  it  in  English.  Wait  till  the  tide 
goes  down,  and  you  will  find  out  pretty  quick  why 
the  Chinese  give  it  that  funny  name." 

"Tis  a  filthy-looking  country,"  quoth  Captain 
O'Shea.  "It  looks  like  one  great  big  sewer,  with  the 
yellow  water  and  the  sludge  and  the  slime  on  the 
banks." 

"It  was  all  very  well  drained  one  time,  long  ago," 
explained  Charley  Tong  Sin.  "Then  there  were 
many  people  and  towns.  The  Tai  Pings  destroyed 
the  canals  and  played  the  dickens  with  everything. 
And  nothing  has  been  repaired,  so  the  people  don't 
live  here  any  more." 

"And  where  is  this  place  called  Wang-Li-Fu?"  de 
manded  O'Shea. 


384       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"Six  miles  up  that  stinking  river.  You  think  you 
will  see  the  Painted  Joss  to-morrow,  Captain?" 

"The  Stinking  River  and  the  Painted  Joss!  You 
are  loosening  up,  Charley.  I  am  near  the  end  of  me 
journey  when  you  say  things  like  that.  I  have  heard 
of  them  before." 

"Two  other  foreign  men — only  two — have  seen  the 
Painted  Joss,  and  it  was  unfortunate  for  them." 
The  comprador  said  this  softly  and  with  an  evil 
grin.  He  had  overstepped  the  mark.  Captain 
O'Shea  gripped  him  by  the  neck  and  shook  him 
savagely  as  he  thundered  in  his  ear: 

"Any  more  of  that,  and  I  will  forget  the  bargain 
we  made.  One  of  those  men  was  a  friend  of  mine, 
and  by  rights  I  ought  to  drill  ye  with  a  bullet  as  a 
favor  to  him." 

Between  chattering  teeth  Charley  Tong  Sin,  sud 
denly  abject,  begged  for  his  life.  Presently  he  moved 
restlessly  from  one  deck  to  another,  but  always  a  man 
followed  and  kept  watch  of  him,  as  Captain  O'Shea 
had  ordered.  The  ship's  company,  most  of  them  off 
duty  and  wearied  with  the  stress  and  hardships  of 
the  voyage,  gathered  under  an  awning  stretched 
between  the  deck-houses  and  talked  in  low  tones. 
This  melancholy,  empty  landscape  had  a  quality 
curiously  depressing.  With  the  falling  tide  the 
swamps  and  the  muddy  banks  were  laid  bare  and  the 
air  became  foul  and  heavy  with  the  smell  of  decayed 
vegetation,  of  ooze,  of  dead  fish.  The  ebb  and  flow 
of  salt-water  failed  to  cleanse  and  sweeten  these 
sluggish  streams  and  stagnant  lagoons  and  aban 
doned  canals. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  385 

The  men  who  had  followed  Captain  O'Shea  to  this 
place  were  no  longer  so  many  vagabonds  and  failures 
struggling  for  survival.  They  had  been  welded  to 
gether,  in  a  way.  They  were  an  organization  with 
something  like  esprit  de  corps  and  could  be  de 
pended  on  to  act  as  a  unit.  Such  a  feeling  as  this 
brings  to  life  dead  self-respect  and  shattered  con 
fidence.  They  knew  not  at  all  what  the  morrow 
might  bring  forth,  but  every  one  of  them  was  anxious 
to  play  the  man,  to  stand  the  test,  to  redeem  himself 
in  his  own  sight,  to  justify  Captain  O'Shea's  faith  in 
him. 

It  was  not  a  night  to  invite  sleep.  The  adven 
turers  felt  the  immense  loneliness  of  this  loathsome 
anchorage.  It  was  unlike  the  populous  China  which 
they  had  hitherto  known.  One  might  believe,  with 
the  natives,  that  ghosts  and  demons  had  power  to 
curse  and  blast  a  region  in  which  some  violation  of 
the  fung-shui,  or  sacred  rites  of  wind  and  water,  had 
angered  the  supernatural  influences.  The  breeze 
died  to  a  dead  calm.  The  lifeless  air  reeked  with  the 
stenches  from  the  mouth  of  the  River  of  Ten  Thou 
sand  Evil  Smells. 

It  was  drawing  toward  midnight  when  Mr.  Kitt- 
ridge  came  on  deck  and  said  to  Captain  O'Shea,  who 
was  sitting  with  a  group  of  his  men: 

"I  shall  have  to  start  the  pumps,  sir.  The  vessel 
is  leakin'  much  worse  than  when  I  first  reported  it." 

"  Um-m,  I  was  hoping  we  could  lay  her  on  a  beach 
after  we  have  finished  our  business  up  the  river  and 
calk  her  plates,"  replied  the  master  of  the  Whang 


386       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

Ho.  "Is  she  making  water  faster  than  you  can 
handle  it,  Mr.  Kittridge?" 

"  She  acts  to  me  as  if  a  plate  dropped  clean  out  of 
her  a  few  minutes  ago,  sir.  The  pumps  may  help, 
but  I  have  a  notion  that  the  whole  rotten,  blankety 
river  is  runnin'  into  her." 

Captain  O'Shea  jumped  below  and  was  promptly 
convinced  that  the  gloomy  diagnosis  of  the  chief  en 
gineer  had  a  large  basis  of  fact.  The  water  was  fairly 
rushing  into  the  holds  and  gurgling  over  the  ballast. 
Likely  enough,  the  battering  passage  in  from  sea  had 
sheared  and  wrenched  away  enough  rusty  rivets  to 
weaken  the  junction  of  two  or  more  plates,  and  they 
had  been  unable  any  longer  to  withstand  the  press 
ure.  It  really  made  no  difference  whether  or  not 
this  theory  was  the  correct  one.  The  fact  was  that 
the  venerable  Whang  Ho  had  suddenly  decided  to 
lay  her  bones  in  the  mud  with  six  fathoms  of  water 
above  her  keel.  Mr.  Kittridge  pensively  caressed 
his  gray  whiskers  and  remarked  with  a  sigh : 

"  I  mentioned  the  pumps  from  force  of  habit.  It's 
really  ridiculous  to  stay  below  any  longer,  Captain. 
We  gave  the  bloody  old  tub  more  than  she  could 
stand,  and  she's  peacefully  chucked  it  up.  She's 
sinkin'  very  quiet  and  decent,  I'll  say  that  for  her." 

"  'Tis  tune  we  said  good-by  to  her,"  quoth  O'Shea. 
"Draw  your  fires,  if  you  can,  Mr.  Kittridge,  and  I 
will  get  the  boats  ready." 

"I  do  seem  to  find  trouble  wherever  I  go,"  sadly 
murmured  the  chief  engineer. 

The  men  on  deck  took  the  news  with  no  great 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  387 

show  of  excitement.  This  was  the  kind  of  voyage 
which  one  could  not  reasonably  expect  to  be  com 
monplace.  To  have  to  escape  from  a  sinking  steamer 
was  an  episode,  not  a  disaster.  In  few  words,  Cap 
tain  O'Shea  assured  them  that  he  had  no  intention  of 
letting  this  uncomfortable  little  happening  interfere 
with  the  business  for  which  he  had  employed  them. 
The  insurance  underwriters  would  be  out  of  pocket, 
but  who  cared  a  rap  for  them,  anyhow?  Thereupon 
he  issued  orders,  swiftly,  intelligently,  with  masterful 
vehemence.  The  two  boats  which  appeared  most 
serviceable  were  swung  outboard  and  held  ready  to 
launch.  They  would  hold  a  dozen  men  each  with 
out  crowding.  Water-kegs  were  filled,  the  galley 
and  store-room  ransacked  for  tins  of  meat  and  bis 
cuit,  bags  of  potatoes  and  rice.  The  fire-arms  and 
cutlasses  were  served  out  and  the  cases  of  ammuni 
tion  divided  between  the  two  boats.  Meanwhile 
the  Whang  Ho  continued  to  sink  with  a  certain 
dignity  and  decorum.  One  could  find  nothing  dra 
matic  in  this  shipwreck.  Every  one  moved  with 
haste,  but  there  was  no  outcry. 

Only  one  mischance  marred  the  exodus  from  the 
Whang  Ho.  All  hands  were  absorbed,  and  quite 
naturally,  in  delaying  their  departure  as  little  as 
possible.  Delay  meant  something  worse  than  wet 
feet.  In  fact,  the  mam  deck  was  almost  level  with 
the  water  when  the  boats  were  ready  to  shove  clear. 
For  once  the  Whang  Ho  had  moved  rapidly,  although 
in  a  lamentable  direction.  With  so  much  to  do  in 
so  short  a  time,  it  was  not  extraordinary  that  the 


388       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

vigilant  espionage  which  surrounded  Charley  Tong 
Sin  should  be  relaxed,  not  to  say  forgotten,  for  a 
moment.  Even  Captain  O'Shea  neglected  to  keep 
an  eye  on  him,  the  business  of  abandoning  ship  on  a 
dark  night  at  excessively  short  notice  being  cal 
culated  to  tax  the  resources  of  the  most  capable 
commander. 

The  comprador  took  advantage  of  these  distrac 
tions  to  erase  himself  from  the  scene.  The  boats 
were  held  against  the  side  of  the  steamer,  while  the 
captain,  took  tally  of  the  men  in  them,  scrambling 
from  one  boat  to  the  other  with  a  globe  lantern 
swinging  in  his  fist.  Charley  Tong  Sin  was  indubi 
tably  missing.  O'Shea  leaped  on  board  the  mori 
bund  Whang  Ho,  which  was  now  sobbing  and  gur 
gling  tremendously,  and  made  a  flying  search  of  the 
cabins  and  state-rooms.  It  was  obvious  that  this 
elusive  young  Chinese  had  not  vanished  below  decks, 
where  by  now  nothing  but  a  fish  could  exist.  And 
unless  Captain  Michael  O'Shea  wished  to  join  the 
fishes,  it  was  time  for  him  to  go. 

Chagrined  and  anxious,  he  returned  to  his  boat, 
and  the  men  frantically  plied  oars.  A  moment  or 
two  later  the  Whang  Ho  went  under  with  very  little 
fuss,  meeting  her  end  with  the  calm  of  a  Chinese 
philosopher.  The  boats  rocked  in  the  waves  that 
rolled  away  from  the  place  where  she  had  been,  and 
the  rays  of  the  lanterns  revealed  many  large  and 
greasy  bubbles. 

Captain  O'Shea  wasted  no  time  in  sentimental  re 
grets.  The  Whang  Ho  was  a  dead  issue.  What 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  389 

vitally  concerned  him  was  the  whereabouts  of  that 
valuable  passenger,  Charley  Tong  Sin.  It  was 
absurd  to  suppose  that  he  had  fallen  overboard  and 
given  up  the  ghost.  A  rascal  of  his  kidney  had  as 
many  lives  as  a  cat.  It  was  much  more  plausible  to 
surmise  that  he  had  unostentatiously  laid  hold  of  a 
life-belt,  slipped  over  the  stern,  and  made  for  the 
nearest  shore.  The  boats  moved  to  and  fro,  looking 
for  him,  but  the  darkness,  misty  and  opaque,  made 
it  hopeless  to  discover  the  head  of  a  swimmer  who 
by  this  time  might  have  left  the  water  and  concealed 
himself  in  the  marsh. 

"I  misdoubt  that  me  policy  was  sound,"  said 
Captain  O'Shea  to  Mr.  Kittridge.  "Maybe  I  ought 
to  have  shot  him,  anyhow." 

"It  would  ha'  been  a  good  job,"  grunted  the 
chief  engineer.  "And  now  he'll  streak  it  for  this 
village  of  Wang-Li-Fu  and  give  an  alarm." 

"Precisely  that.  But  unless  he  can  pick  up  a 
sampan  or  a  fishing-boat  he  will  make  slow  headway 
flounderin'  through  the  swamps  and  swimming  the 
creeks.  'Tis  up  to  us  to  beat  him  to  it." 

Mr.  Parkinson,  who  was  in  command  of  the  other 
boat,  was  ordered  to  steer  alongside  for  consultation. 
It  was  promptly  agreed  that  the  party  should  first 
find  the  mouth  of  the  River  of  Ten  Thousand  Evil 
Smells  and  then  move  up-stream  without  delay. 
It  would  be  slow  and  blundering  navigation,  but  if 
three  or  four  miles  could  be  traversed  before  daylight 
they  might  tie  up  to  the  bank  and  reconnoitre  within 
striking  distance  of  their  goal. 


390       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"I  do  not  know  what  kind  of  a  mess  we  will  hop 
into,"  O'Shea  told  them  before  the  boats  separated. 
"We  may  have  to  fight  our  way,  thanks  to  that 
slippery  divil  of  a  comprador,  and  I  am  not  asking 
ye  to  go  anywhere  that  I  will  not  go  meself.  Some 
of  you  are  not  trained  to  use  weapons,  but  if  ye  will 
cut  loose  and  blaze  away  and  not  think  too  much 
about  your  own  skins,  we  can  make  it  uncomfort 
able  for  a  slather  of  Chinese.  There  is  plenty  of 
ammunition,  so  don't  scrimp  yourselves." 

The  boats  slid  slowly  into  the  entrance  of  the  wide, 
sluggish  stream.  The  lanterns  were  extinguished. 
The  only  sound  was  the  cadenced  thump  of  the 
thole-pins.  If  any  of  the  men  felt  the  prickly  chill 
of  cowardice,  they  kept  it  to  themselves.  Now  and 
then  the  keels  furrowed  the  mud,  and  when  the  boats 
stranded  hard  and  fast,  the  crews  waded  overboard 
and  shoved  them  ahead.  Thus  the  little  flotilla 
progressed  until  dawn  flushed  the  eastern  sky  and 
the  vapors,  streaming  upward  from  the  marshes, 
curled  and  drifted  like  filmy  clouds.  Higher  ground 
and  the  green,  checkered  squares  of  tilled  fields  were 
discernible  a  short  distance  beyond. 

The  boats  turned  into  the  mouth  of  a  tiny  creek 
where  the  tall  rushes  curtained  them  from  observa 
tion.  This  was  a  favorable  halting  place,  and  a  cold 
breakfast  was  hastily  eaten.  O'Shea  had  a  poor 
opinion  of  fighting  on  an  empty  stomach.  He  ad 
dressed  himself  with  marked  deference  to  a  very 
neatly  dressed  man  with  iron-gray  hair  who  had 
said  little  during  the  voyage.  His  face  was  hag- 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  391 

gard  and  his  eyes  were  tired  with  weariness  of 
living. 

"You  have  seen  service,  sir,  and  ye  have  led 
drilled  men,"  said  O'Shea.  "The  cards  are  dealt, 
but  from  now  on  you  can  play  them  better  than  I. 
I  will  be  obliged  to  ye  for  advice." 

The  cashiered  officer  looked  grateful.  This  kind 
of  recognition  had  power  to  move  him.  With  a 
diffident  manner,  as  if  his  professional  opinion 
had  long  since  ceased  to  interest  any  one,  he  re 
plied  : 

"Most  Chinese  villages  are  walled.  There  will  be 
at  least  one  gate  facing  the  river  and  two  or  three 
on  the  inland  side.  It  is  often  awkward  to  make  a 
landing  under  fire  from  boats.  I  suggest  we  divide 
our  force.  If  you  approve,  Captain,  I  will  take  ten 
of  the  most  active  men  and  disembark  here.  We 
can  fetch  a  wide  circuit  of  the  town,  and  it  will  not 
be  difficult  to  make  our  way  across  the  rice  fields 
and  ditches.  You  can  put  the  rest  of  them  in  one 
boat  and  row  up  in  front  of  the  town,  waiting  in  the 
stream  until  we  are  in  a  position  to  make  a  rush. 
Then  we  will  drive  home  a  simultaneous  attack  in 
front  and  rear." 

"Napoleon  could  not  beat  it,"  heartily  exclaimed 
O'Shea.  "And  if  ye  shoot  fast  enough  and  kick  up 
a  terrible  racket,  they  will  think  ye  are  an  army. 
What  will  the  signal  be?" 

"Three  rifle  shots." 

"Ay,  ay,  Mr.  Bannister.  'Tis  the  sensible  plan 
that  ye  take  command  of  the  army  while  I  hoist  the 


392       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

rear-admiral's  pennant  over  the  navy.  We  have  no 
reserves,  but  many  a  famous  victory  would  have 
been  missing  from  history  if  the  lads  that  won  them 
had  waited  for  the  reserves  to  come  up." 

The  chosen  ten  forsook  the  boats  and  tramped  off 
behind  their  soldierly  leader.  A  few  minutes  later 
the  expedition  of  Captain  O'Shea  got  under  way, 
his  boat  hugging  the  muddy  shore  and  dodging  be 
hind  its  ragged  indentations.  It  was  not  long  before 
a  wide  curve  of  the  river  disclosed  to  view  the  tiled 
roofs,  the  crumbling  brick  wall,  and  the  towered 
gate- ways  of  a  village.  In  front  of  it  were  several 
rickety  wharfs,  or  stagings,  built  of  bamboo  poles 
lashed  together.  At  the  outer  end  of  one  of  these 
lay  a  two-masted  junk,  her  hawse-holes  painted  to 
resemble  two  huge  eyes.  The  tide  had  begun  to 
ebb,  and  the  junk  was  already  heeled  so  that  her 
deck  sloped  toward  the  river.  This  craft  appeared 
to  be  deserted.  No  pigtailed  heads  bobbed  behind 
the  immensely  heavy  bulwarks.  If  the  army  officer 
had  been  a  Napoleon,  Captain  O'Shea  showed  him 
self  a  Nelson. 

"Pull  like  blazes  for  the  junk  yonder,"  he  shouted 
to  his  men.  "We  will  pile  aboard  her  and  take 
cover." 

The  junk  was  directly  in  front  of  the  gate-way  in 
the  village  wall,  and  perhaps  a  hundred  yards  distant 
from  it.  The  intervening  space  was  beach,  a  miry 
roadway,  and  a  disorderly  row  of  shanties  made  of 
drift-wood,  with  a  few  boats  hauled  out  for  repairs. 
The  heavy  timbers  of  the  junk  made  her  a  nautical 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  393 

fortress,  and  the  high  sides  would  be  difficult  of  direct 
assault. 

The  men  swung  lustily  at  the  oars,  and  the  boat 
shot  out  into  the  open  river.  O'Shea  steered  wide 
of  the  village  until  he  could  turn  and  make  directly 
for  the  junk.  It  was  an  admirable  bit  of  strategy, 
but  wholly  wasted  on  this  sleepy,  shabby  Chinese 
village.  There  was  never  a  sign  of  a  hostile  demon 
stration.  As  an  anticlimax  the  thing  was  absurd. 
A  crowd  of  men,  women,  and  children  streamed  out 
through  the  gate  in  the  wall  and  stared  with  much 
excited  chatter  at  the  foreign  invaders.  Apparently 
their  behavior  meant  no  more  than  a  harmless  cu 
riosity.  Several  garrulous  old  gentlemen  squatted 
upon  fragments  of  timber  and  pulled  at  their  bam 
boo  pipes  while  they  discussed  the  singular  visitation 
with  the  oracular  demeanor  of  so  many  owls. 

The  bold  O'Shea  grinned  sheepishly.  His  sensa 
tions  were  those  of  a  man  who  beheld  a  heroic  enter 
prise  suddenly  turned  into  low  comedy.  He  glanced 
at  the  amused  faces  of  his  followers  and  said: 

"'Tis  not  what  ye  might  call  a  desperate  resist 
ance.  Let  us  promenade  ashore  and  look  the  town 


over." 


They  quitted  their  fortress  and  moved  along  the 
narrow,  swaying  staging  of  bamboo,  their  rifles  ready 
for  use  in  the  event  of  an  ambuscade.  The  Chinese 
crowd  promptly  retreated  in  noisy  confusion.  O'Shea 
ordered  a  halt.  After  some  delay,  three  signal  shots 
came  down  the  wind  from  Major  Bannister's  force. 
He  was  about  to  attack  the  village  from  the  land- 


394       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

ward  side.  Now  the  shopkeepers  and  coolies  scuttled 
madly  away  from  O'Shea's  party  to  seek  shelter 
within  the  walls  and  discover  what  all  this  extraor 
dinary  excitement  could  mean. 

Behind  them  tramped  the  naval  brigade  into 
streets  from  which  the  inhabitants  were  vanishing  as 
rapidly  as  possible.  Somewhere  near  the  centre  of 
the  town  O'Shea  and  Major  Bannister  joined  forces. 
This  pair  of  valiant  leaders  eyed  each  other  with 
mutually  puzzled  chagrin. 

"We  just  walked  in  without  the  slightest  trouble," 
confessed  the  army  man.  "What  do  you  make  of 
it?" 

"I  had  the  same  experience,"  observed  O'Shea. 
"And  I  do  not  know  what  to  make  of  it  at  all. 
'Twas  me  firm  conviction  that  we  were  prancin'  into 
a  hornet's  nest.  The  information  all  pointed  that 
way.  I  would  call  it  a  funny  kind  of  a  surprise 
party." 

"The  villagers  have  no  intention  of  making  it 
unpleasant  for  us.  They  have  been  giving  my 
men  eggs  and  melons  and  chickens,  to  keep  us 
good-natured,  I  presume." 

"Well,  we  will  find  quarters  and  fetch  our  grub 
from  the  junk,  and  I  will  buy  the  drinks,  if  ye  can 
locate  them,  for  the  joke  seems  to  be  on  me." 

They  found  the  village  tavern,  consisting  of  sev 
eral  detached  buildings  set  hi  a  large  court-yard. 
The  agitated  landlord  kow-towed  himself  almost 
black  in  the  face,  and  in  trembling  accents  expressed 
his  desire  to  bestow  all  his  goods  upon  the  warlike 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  395 

foreigners  if  only  his  miserable  life  might  be  spared. 
He  summarily  ejected  a  few  native  guests  of  low 
degree,  who  fled  without  delaying  to  argue  the  mat 
ter.  The  invaders  set  the  tavern  coolies  to  sweeping 
and  scrubbing  the  filthy  buildings  and  took  charge 
of  the  kitchen  with  its  row  of  earthen  fire-pots. 
There  was  no  lack  of  room  for  men  to  sleep  three  and 
four  in  a  row  upon  the  k'angs,  or  brick  platforms  used 
for  the  purpose,  and  the  ragged  quilts  were  hung 
outside  to  air.  In  short,  the  tavern  was  transformed 
into  a  camp  which  had  no  serious  discomforts. 

Having  taken  care  of  his  men,  Captain  O'Shea 
found  leisure  to  ponder  over  the  situation,  a  process 
which  left  him  with  a  headache.  He  rambled 
unmolested  from  one  end  of  the  village  to  the  other, 
searching  for  clues  that  might  link  themselves 
with  the  Painted  Joss  and  the  tragedy  of  Bill  Ma- 
guire.  There  were  two  small,  dilapidated  temples, 
one  of  them  inhabited  by  a  few  Buddhist  priests  in 
yellow  robes.  O'Shea  was  permitted  to  enter  them 
and  explore  to  his  heart's  content.  They  were  noth 
ing  more  than  village  shrines,  however,  in  which  the 
perfunctory  rites  were  held  and  offerings  made — such 
places  as  might  have  been  seen  in  a  thousand  Chinese 
towns.  Nor  did  the  village  itself,  excepting  for  an 
air  of  general  decay,  differ  from  the  hamlets  of  a 
dozen  provinces. 

"I  have  a  harrowing  suspicion  that  Charley  Tong 
Sin  made  a  monkey  of  me,"  ruefully  sighed  O'Shea, 
"or  maybe  I  have  been  all  wrong  from  the  start. 
The  Chinese  proposition  has  too  many  twists  in  it 
for  a  white  man  to  fathom." 


396       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

As  a  person  of  considerable  confidence  in  his  ability 
to  master  difficulties,  his  self-esteem  had  been  dealt 
a  hard  blow.  His  imagination  had  pictured  a  large, 
stirring  climax  of  his  pilgrimage,  and  here  he  was  all 
adrift  in  a  wretched  little  village  of  no  consequence 
whatever,  the  last  place  in  the  world  to  find  the  head 
quarters  of  a  secret  organization  so  mysteriously 
powerful  as  to  cast  its  sinister  shadow  throughout 
China,  and  even  across  the  seas.  And  yet  the  evi 
dence  had  been  by  no  means  vague  and  misleading. 
Beginning  with  the  fragmentary  revelations  of  the 
demented  sailor,  coming  next  to  the  disclosures  of 
poor  McDougal's  diary,  he  had  been  led  straight  to 
the  town  of  Wang-Li-Fu,  on  the  River  of  Ten  Thou 
sand  Evil  Smells.  He  had  felt  that  the  hand  of  des 
tiny  was  guiding  him. 

Returning  to  the  tavern  yard  O'Shea  found  his 
men  cheerfully  making  friends  of  the  villagers  and 
accepting  the  situation  with  the  ready  adaptability 
of  true  soldiers  of  fortune.  They  looked  to  the  leader 
for  orders,  but  he  had  none  to  give  them.  He  had 
been  placed  in  the  ridiculous  position  of  providing 
wages  and  rations  for  a  perfectly  superfluous  expedi 
tionary  force. 

"Just  what  did  you  expect  to  turn  up  in  this 
pigsty  of  a  settlement?"  gloomily  inquired  Mr.  Kitt- 
ridge,  who  seemed  disappointed  that  he  had  not 
broken  a  few  heads.  "Whatever  it  was,  it  fell  flat." 

"It  did  that,"  frankly  admitted  O'Shea.  "'Tis  a 
painful  subject,  Mr.  Kittridge,  and  we  will  not  dis 
cuss  it  now.  But  I  am  not  done  with  the  riddle  of 
Wang-Li-Fu." 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  397 

Three  days  passed,  and  singly  and  in  squads  the 
invaders  ransacked  the  village  and  its  suburbs,  pok 
ing  into  shops,  alleys,  dwellings,  and  court-yards 
and  taking  stock  of  the  inmates  thereof.  That  the 
people  were  very  poor  and  very  industrious  was  all 
that  one  could  say  of  them.  And  they  were  no  more 
to  be  suspected  of  plotting  deeds  of  violence  than 
so  many  rabbits.  Doggedly  persistent,  unwilling  to 
confess  himself  beaten,  O'Shea  shifted  his  quest  to 
the  open  country  for  miles  outside  of  Wang-Li-Fu. 
It  was  a  region  of  green  fields  gridironed  with  ditches 
and  rutted  paths,  and  dotted  with  toilers  in  blue  cot 
ton  blouses  and  straw  hats,  who  tilled  their  crops 
from  dawn  to  dark. 

It  was  obviously  useless  to  extend  the  investiga 
tion  any  considerable  distance  away  from  this  re 
gion.  If  the  secret  was  not  to  be  unearthed  in  the 
vicinity  of  Wang-Li-Fu,  then  his  conclusions  had 
been  all  wrong.  The  villagers  assured  him  that  this 
was,  in  truth,  none  other  than  Wang-Li-Fu,  and  the 
baffled,  perplexed  O'Shea  could  not  let  go  of  the 
opinion  that  the  goal  was  somewhere  near  at  hand. 
Otherwise,  why  all  the  elaborate  stratagems  in  Shang 
hai  to  thwart  his  voyage  to  the  River  of  Ten  Thou 
sand  Evil  Smells? 

He  had  imagined  himself  attacking  a  stronghold 
of  some  sort,  a  headquarters  of  desperate  criminals 
who  must  be  wiped  out.  But  if  that  slippery  com 
prador  Charley  Tong  Sin  had  carried  a  warning 
to  the  men  of  the  Painted  Joss,  he  must  have  fled 
elsewhere  than  to  this  commonplace,  harmless  vil- 


398       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

lage.  At  any  rate,  it  seemed  absurd  to  tarry  much 
longer  in  Wang-Li-Fu  with  a  force  of  armed  retainers. 

At  the  end  of  a  fortnight,  O'Shea  was  of  the  opinion 
that  his  loyal  legion  had  better  seek  to  mend  its 
fortunes  in  some  other  quarter.  He  was  ashamed 
to  look  them  in  the  face.  The  fiasco  cut  him  to  the 
quick.  He  had  been  as  mad  as  poor  Bill  Maguire. 
In  future  he  would  stick  to  his  trade  as  a  shipmaster. 

Meanwhile,  the  malarial  poison  of  the  marshes 
found  its  way  into  his  blood.  He  failed  to  realize 
that  he  was  ill,  and  paid  no  attention  to  the  little 
flashes  of  fever  that  came  by  night  and  the  creeping, 
chilly  feeling  that  troubled  him  in  the  morning. 

There  came  a  day  when  he  was  unable  to  rise  from 
the  brick  sleeping-platform.  The  fever  increased, 
suddenly,  violently.  It  caught  him  unprepared. 
His  plan  of  retreat  had  not  been  announced,  and  now 
he  was  incapable  of  leadership.  His  mind  alternated 
between  delirium  and  stupor.  When  he  talked  it 
was  of  many  inconsequential  things.  One  might 
have  said  that  the  evil  spirit  of  the  Painted  Joss 
had  laid  its  spell  of  misfortune  upon  him.  In  the 
court-yard  of  the  tavern  his  lieutenants  held  a 
conference. 

"Can  anybody  make  head  or  tail  of  this  infernal 
situation? ' '  gloomily  inqu ired  Mr.  Kittridge.  ' '  What 
in  hades  are  we  going  to  do  about  it?" 

"Try  to  pull  Captain  O'Shea  through  this  fever 
before  we  think  of  anything  else,"  stoutly  affirmed 
Mr.  Parkinson.  "We  jammed  into  this  crazy  voy 
age  with  our  eyes  shut.  With  all  of  us  it  was  any- 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  399 

thing  to  get  clear  of  Shanghai.  And  it's  useless 
business  to  sit  and  growl  about  it  as  hard  luck. 
What  do  you  say,  Major  Bannister?" 

The  army  man  smiled  at  sight  of  their  dis 
couraged  countenances  and  quietly  answered: 

"What  else  can  we  chaps  expect  but  hard  luck? 
Really,  I  should  be  surprised  to  find  anything  else. 
I  can  tell  you  one  thing,  gentlemen.  I  have  cam 
paigned  in  the  tropics,  and  I  know  something  about 
this  swamp  fever.  We  had  best  get  out  of  here  and 
take  Captain  O'Shea  with  us.  If  we  don't,  he  will 
die  as  sure  as  sunrise,  and  the  rest  of  us  will  be  down 
with  it  before  long.  It  caught  him  first  because  he 
was  fagged  with  worry." 

"We  agree  with  you  there,"  said  Mr.  Parkinson. 
"But  we  seem  to  have  overlooked  a  line  of  retreat. 
That  was  the  Irish  of  it,  I  suppose.  If  we  go 
down  river  in  our  two  boats  we'll  have  to  work  'em 
out  to  sea  over  those  nasty  shoals  and  then  run  the 
chance  of  being  picked  up  adrift.  We  might  get 
away  with  it,  but  it  would  kill  a  man  as  sick  as 
O'Shea." 

"Why  not  go  up-river?"  suggested  Major  Ban 
nister.  "By  means  of  a  few  words  of  Chinese  and  a 
great  many  gestures  I  have  extracted  from  the  vil 
lage  head-men  the  information  that  there  is  a  Euro 
pean  mission  station  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
northwest  of  here.  We  can  make  part  of  the  journey 
by  boat  and  then  hike  overland.  With  a  litter  and 
coolies  to  carry  it,  we  may  be  able  to  take  Captain 
O'Shea  through  alive.  It's  better  than  letting  him 
die  in  this  pest-hole." 


400       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"That's  the  most  sensible  speech  I've  heard  since 
we  signed  on,"  grunted  Mr.  Kittridge.  "And  you 
can  pull  out  of  this  rotten  Wang-Li-Fu  not  a  minute 
too  soon  to  please  me." 

The  village  head-men  were  summoned,  and  these 
venerable  worthies  declared  themselves  anxious  to  aid 
the  sick  leader  of  the  foreign  soldiers.  He  had  played 
with  their  children,  paid  the  shopkeepers  their  prices 
without  dispute,  and  sat  with  the  old  men  hi  the  tea 
houses.  Nor  had  his  armed  force  committed  any 
abuses,  although  they  held  the  village  at  their  mercy. 
It  was  wisdom  to  try  to  carry  Captain  O'Shea  to  his 
own  people.  The  village  would  gladly  furnish  a  guide 
and  plenty  of  coolies,  a  covered  litter,  and  a  small 
house-boat  in  which  the  sick  man  could  be  made 
comfortable. 

The  evacuation  of  Wang-Li-Fu  was  a  dismal  busi 
ness.  The  adventurers  were  oppressed  by  a  sense  of 
failure  and  discouragement.  Their  enterprise  had 
fizzled  out  like  a  dampened  match.  This  final  act 
was  inglorious.  Their  plight  was  worse  than  when 
they  had  been  stranded  as  beach-combers  in  Shang 
hai.  They  carried  Captain  O'Shea  to  a  sampan,  or 
flat-bottomed  boat,  with  a  tiny  cabin  of  bamboo  and 
matting,  which  could  be  towed  against  the  sluggish 
current  of  the  river.  The  men  disposed  themselves 
in  the  two  boats  saved  from  the  Whang  Ho  steamer, 
and  a  squad  of  half -naked  coolies  strung  themselves 
along  a  towing-rope  to  help  track  the  sampan  up 
stream. 

The  sick  man  lay  stretched  upon  his  quilts  and 
showed  little  interest  in  the  slow  progress  of  the  flo- 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  401 

tilla.  Between  spells  of  heavy  drowsiness  he  watched 
the  slimy  shore  and  fringing  marsh  slide  past. 
Through  the  first  day  the  wind  was  cool  and  the  air 
bright,  and  the  boats  trailed  up-river  until  after  night 
fall  before  they  were  pulled  into  the  bank  to  moor. 
As  the  part  of  caution,  no  fires  were  made  and 
conversation  was  hushed.  The  foreigners  had  an 
uncomfortable  suspicion  that  this  might  be  hostile 
territory,  although  they  had  discovered  nothing  to 
warrant  the  conjecture.  But  O'Shea  had  been  bab 
bling  about  the  Painted  Joss  while  flighty  with 
fever,  and  Charley  Tong  Sin  was  still  unaccounted 
for. 

Between  midnight  and  morning  the  sick  man  came 
out  of  his  uneasy  dreams.  As  it  seemed  to  him,  he 
was  clear-headed,  his  senses  alert,  his  judgment  nor 
mal.  Just  why  he  should  be  cooped  up  in  this  native 
boat  was  a  bit  difficult  to  comprehend,  but  why  try 
to  understand  it?  There  was  only  one  problem  of 
real  importance.  And  now  was  the  time  to  solve  it. 
O'Shea  laughed  to  think  what  a  stupid,  blundering 
fool  he  had  been  to  recruit  an  armed  expedition  and 
come  clattering  into  this  corner  of  China  with  so 
much  fuss  and  noise. 

If  a  man  wanted  to  find  the  Painted  Joss,  all  he 
had  to  do  was  listen  to  the  friendly,  familiar  voices 
that  whispered  in  his  ears.  O'Shea  could  hear  them 
now.  He  accepted  them  as  a  matter  of  course.  His 
eyes  were  very  bright  as  he  pulled  on  his  shoes  and 
fumbled  for  the  revolver  in  its  holster  under  the 
pillow.  Curiously  enough,  he  was  no  longer  con- 


402       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

scious  of  great  physical  weakness.  It  was  tremen 
dously  urgent  that  he  should  go  to  find  the  Painted 
Joss  without  a  moment's  delay.  His  men  would  not 
understand  if  he  should  tell  them  about  the  friendly 
voices  that  were  offering  to  show  him  the  way. 
They  might  try  to  restrain  him.  He  must  leave  the 
boat  quietly,  unobserved. 

Crawling  from  beneath  the  matting  curtain,  he 
gained  the  river  bank.  His  knees  were  exceedingly 
shaky  and  his  hands  trembled  uncertainly,  but  he 
was  confident  that  he  had  found  the  trail  of  the 
Painted  Joss  and  that  his  vigor  would  soon  return. 
Charley  Tong  Sin  outwit  him?  Nonsense!  O'Shea 
would  have  been  startled  beyond  measure  to  know 
that  he  was  wandering  off  in  delirium.  He  would 
have  taken  a  shot  at  any  one  rash  enough  to  tell 
him  so. 

Undetected  he  moved  along  the  shore,  silent  as  a 
red  Indian,  and  was  presently  lost  in  the  darkness. 
It  was  muddy  walking,  and  he  turned  into  the  tall 
marsh  grass,  where  a  carpet  of  dead  vegetation  made 
firmer  footing.  Frequently  he  was  compelled  to  halt 
and  regain  his  labored  breath,  but  his  purpose  was 
unwavering.  The  voices  drove  him  on.  He  had  no 
sense  of  fear.  After  some  time  his  erratic  progress 
led  him  back  to  the  river.  There  he  stumbled  over 
a  log  and  sat  down  to  wait  for  daybreak,  which  had 
begun  to  flush  the  sky. 

His  head  throbbed  as  though  hammers  were  pound 
ing  it  and  waves  of  blurring  dizziness  troubled  him. 
What  was  more  disquieting,  the  guiding  voices  had 


THE  BRANDED  MAN  403 

ceased  to  talk  to  him.  He  felt  crushing  disappoint 
ment  and  sadness.  His  eyes  filled  with  tears. 

Dawn  found  him  seated  dejectedly  with  his  back 
propped  against  the  log,  his  head  drooping,  while  he 
stared  at  the  muddy  river.  Here  he  would  wait  on 
the  chance  that  his  friends  might  find  him.  As  the 
day  brightened,  his  aimless  vision  was  caught  by 
something  which  powerfully  awakened  his  weary, 
befogged  perceptions.  It  acted  as  a  stimulant  of  tre 
mendous  force.  Sitting  bolt  upright  he  gazed  at  a 
footprint,  cleanly  outlined,  which  had  become  sun- 
dried  and  hardened  in  a  stratum  of  clay. 

It  had  been  made  by  a  leather  sole  and  heel. 
The  outline  was  pointed  and  narrow.  Into  0' Shea's 
quickened  memory  there  flashed  the  picture  of 
Charley  Tong  Sin  stretched  upon  the  cabin  floor  of 
the  Whang  Ho  steamer,  his  patent-leather  shoes  wav 
ing  gently  as  he  went  to  sleep  under  the  soporific 
influence  of  a  knock-out  blow.  He  felt  absolutely 
certain  that  this  particular  print  had  been  left  by 
the  fashionable  footgear  of  the  vanished  comprador. 
The  voices  had  guided  him  aright.  It  was  here  that 
Charley  Tong  Sin  had  come  ashore  after  making  his 
way  up  the  River  of  Ten  Thousand  Evil  Smells  in 
some  kind  of  a  native  boat. 

There  was  one  chance  in  a  million  that  O'Shea 
should  have  halted  to  wait  in  this  precise  spot  where 
his  eyes  might  see  the  thing.  He  dragged  himself  to 
his  feet  and  scanned  the  melancholy  landscape. 
There  were  no  villages  in  sight ;  only  the  marsh  and 
fields  and  a  vast  mound  of  debris  to  mark  the  place 


404       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

where  once  had  stood  a  city.  Even  the  walls  sur 
rounding  it  had  been  levelled.  It  was  scarcely  more 
than  a  wide-spread  excrescence  of  broken  brick  and 
tiling  partly  overgrown  with  vegetation.  The  land 
scape  could  have  held  no  more  desolate  reminder  of 
the  wreckage  left  in  the  wake  of  the  Tai  Ping  rebels. 

It  was  plausible  to  surmise  that  this  was  the  real 
Wang-Li-Fu,  the  city  which  O'Shea  had  set  out  to 
find.  The  squalid  village  much  lower  down  the 
river  might  have  been  founded  by  refugees  who  gave 
the  same  name  to  their  new  abode.  And  the  vil 
lagers  had  been  too  ignorant  to  explain  the  blunder. 
To  them  there  was  only  one  Wang-Li-Fu.  How 
Charley  Tong  Sin  must  have  laughed  at  leaving 
O'Shea  and  his  men  to  waste  themselves  in  a  chase 
that  led  nowhere. 

It  was  a  pallid,  unshaven,  tottering  ghost  of  Cap 
tain  Michael  O'Shea  that  mustered  strength  to  walk 
very  slowly  in  the  direction  of  the  ruined  city. 
Once  he  paused  and  became  irresolute,  but  a  little 
way  beyond  he  found  the  imprint  of  a  narrow  shoe  of 
European  workmanship  on  the  soft  bank  of  a  ditch. 
His  stumbling  steps  led  him,  as  by  an  unerring  divi 
nation,  toward  the  highest  part  of  the  great  mound 
of  debris  where  tall  trees  grew  from  the  crumbling 
masonry.  His  painful  advance  became  less  difficult 
when  he  found  a  path  from  which  the  obstructions 
had  been  removed. 

Presently  he  stood  looking  across  a  cleared  space 
in  the  midst  of  the  ruins,  invisible  from  river  or  high 
way.  In  it  were  several  small  buildings  and  one 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  405 

much  larger.  The  timbers  set  into  its  walls  were 
carved  and  gilded,  the  curving  roof  of  dull  red  tile. 
There  was  no  living  thing  in  sight.  This  isolated 
community  was  so  situated  that  it  was  wholly  con 
cealed  from  strangers,  and  the  natives  of  the  region 
were  apt  to  shun  the  blasted  city  as  haunted  by 
demons.  No  watchers  were  posted  to  guard  against 
intrusion. 

O'Shea  crossed  the  open  space  and  made  for  the 
large  building,  which  had  the  aspect  of  a  temple. 
Unhesitatingly  he  approached  the  massive  wooden 
doors  and  found  them  ajar.  He  walked  like  a  man 
in  a  trance,  muttering  to  himself.  Passing  within,  he 
entered  a  sort  of  anteroom  partitioned  by  means  of 
screens  wonderfully  embroidered.  The  stone  pave 
ment  rang  to  the  tread  of  his  heels.  The  place 
echoed  with  emptiness.  He  pressed  on  and  came 
into  a  room  of  greater  extent.  Its  corners  were  lost 
in  shadow.  Rows  of  pillars  supported  the  dusky 
rafters  upon  which  gilded  dragons  seemed  to  writhe. 
The  windows  were  small  and  set  close  to  the  roof 
and  the  light  of  early  morning  had  not  dispelled  the 
gloom. 

In  the  centre  of  the  floor  was  an  altar.  Behind  it  / 
towered  an  image  of  Buddha,  and  yet  it  was  unlike 
the  images  of  the  bland  and  contemplative  Buddha 
commonly  to  be  found  in  the  temples  of  the  East. 
It  was  a  monstrous  thing.  Only  an  artist  with  an 
inspiration  from  the  devil  could  have  so  handled 
tools  as  to  make  those  wooden  features  seem  to  lust 
after  all  abominable  wickedness.  The  color  of  this 


406       ADVENTURES  OF   CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

seated  statue  was  crimson.  Amid  the  shadows  it 
glowed  like  fire  or  blood.  On  the  breast,  above  the 
folded  arms,  stood  out  in  broad,  black  strokes  a 
Chinese  symbol  or  character  which  O'Shea  recog 
nized  with  a  sensation  of  creeping  repugnance. 

"The  Painted  Joss!"  he  gasped. 

His  attention  was  so  strongly  caught  and  held  by 
this  malevolent  image  that  for  the  moment  he  had 
eyes  for  nothing  else.  Presently,  however,  he  be 
came  aware  that  another  figure  confronted  him,  a 
living  presence.  It  was  a  man  sitting  in  a  massive 
chair  of  teak- wood,  by  the  side  of  the  Buddha.  The 
bulk  of  him  was  enormous.  He  was  both  fat  and 
mighty  of  frame,  and  not  even  the  towering  ampli 
tude  of  the  image  could  dwarf  his  proportions  and 
belittle  the  impression  he  conveyed.  His  face  was 
broad  and  heavy-jowled,  the  mouth  sensual  and  cruel. 
With  folded  arms  he  sat  and  gazed  at  the  foreign 
intruder.  This  unflinching,  scornful  immobility  had 
a  certain  distinction.  He  believed  that  he  must 
instantly  die  at  the  hands  of  this  European  with  the 
white,  savage  face  and  the  blazing  eyes  who  covered 
him  with  a  revolver.  It  was  futile  to  cry  out  and 
summon  help.  As  is  customary  with  Chinese  in 
positions  of  authority,  this  high-priest  of  iniquity 
had  gone  to  the  temple  to  have  audience  with  his 
servitors  very  early  in  the  morning.  They  had  not 
yet  joined  him  and  O'Shea  was  quick  to  read  his 
own  advantage. 

It  "was  right  and  just  that  he  should  slay  this  huge 
man  in  the  crimson  robe  who  ruled  the  temple  of 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  407 

the  Painted  Joss.  He  had  come  ten  thousand  miles 
to  be  judge  and  executioner.  He  was  ready  to  kill 
and  be  killed  in  his  turn.  But  the  revolver  was 
strangely  heavy  and  it  wavered  so  that  he  was  un 
able  to  hold  it  at  arm's  length.  A  haze  bothered  his 
vision  and  he  could  not  brush  it  from  his  eyes. 
Something  was  the  matter  with  his  knees.  They 
were  giving  way.  With  an  incoherent  exclamation, 
O'Shea  fell  unconscious  upon  the  stone  flagging  and 
the  revolver  clattered  from  his  limp  hand.  He  had 
paid  the  price  of  exertion  beyond  his  strength. 

When  his  senses  returned  there  was  in  his  mind 
only  the  dimmest  recollection  of  how  he  came  to  be 
in  this  dreadful  place.  The  vagaries  of  fever  no 
longer  possessed  him.  Clear-headed  but  wretchedly 
weak  and  nerveless,  he  gazed  about  him  and  dis 
covered  that  he  was  alone  in  the  unholy  temple. 
The  shadows  were  not  so  heavy  on  the  pillars,  the 
gilded  rafters,  and  the  marble  altar.  The  crimson 
image  of  the  seated  Buddha  loomed  flamboyant  and 
portentous  and  the  Chinese  symbol  painted  on  its 
breast  was  boldly  outlined. 

There  was  no  way  of  escape.  The  building  was  a 
most  effectual  prison.  His  revolver  had  been  taken 
from  him.  He  could  not  even  fight  and  die  like  a 
man.  The  fact  was  that  this  desperate  extremity 
lacked  the  proper  sense  of  reality.  It  was  so  con 
trary  to  reason  and  he  had  such  shadowy,  confused 
ideas  of  what  had  preceded,  that  this  was  more  like 
nightmare  or  delirium.  And  it  seemed  impossible 
that  he  should  not  presently  find  himself  awake. 


408       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

What  most  tenaciously  persisted  in  his  memory 
was  the  image  of  the  huge  man  in  the  teak-wood 
chair.  He  was  a  vision  which  could  not  be  denied. 
Such  a  one  as  he  had  power  to  sway  the  wills  of 
others  to  his  desires,  to  create  and  direct  great  enter 
prises  and  send  his  influence  afar,  but  never  for 
good.  If  he  ordered  murder  done  in  distant  places 
his  secret  edicts  would  be  obeyed,  nor  would  his 
agent  dare  to  thwart  him.  If  there  was  such  an 
organization  as  O'Shea  had  assumed,  then  he  had 
stood  face  to  face  with  the  dominant  personality,  the 
compelling  force  from  which  radiated  infernal  ac 
tivities. 

"I  saw  him,  whether  I  am  meself  or  somebody 
else,"  the  prisoner  muttered  with  a  groan.  "And  he 
will  come  back  and  the  brand  will  be  chopped  into 
me,  same  as  was  done  to  poor  Bill  Maguire.  'Tis  a 
tough  finish,  if  all  this  is  really  true.  My  God,  I 
wish  I  knew  what  had  happened  to  me.  Yesterday 
I  was  going  up-river  with  me  men,  and  now " 

He  struggled  to  his  feet.  A  supreme  effort  of  will 
conquered  physical  weakness.  A  man  condemned  to 
die  is  capable  of  forgetting  bodily  ills.  Just  then  a 
young  man  appeared  from  the  direction  of  the  door 
way.  He  wore  native  garments,  but  O'Shea  recog 
nized  him.  It  was  Charley  Tong  Sin,  whose  smile 
was  unpleasant.  In  his  hand  was  0' Shea's  revolver, 
which  he  was  careful  to  hold  ready  for  use.  The 
jaunty,  affable  manner  of  the  comprador  had  re 
turned.  He  appeared  very  well  satisfied  with  him 
self  as  he  exclaimed,  by  way  of  greeting- 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  409 

"It  is  an  unexpected  pleasure,  you  bet,  Captain 
O'Shea.  I  have  waited  till  you  were  gone  from 
Wang-Li-Fu.  It  was  reported  that  you  were  very 
sick  and  went  up  the  river  yesterday  with  your  men. 
You  decided  to  come  and  see  us,  to  visit  the  Painted 
Joss?  You  wished  to  make  some  trouble?" 

"  'Tis  the  last  day  I  will  make  trouble  for  any  one, 
by  the  looks  of  things,"  replied  O'Shea.  "You  win, 
Charley." 

"You  are  a  smart  man,"  grinned  the  other. 
"But  you  had  too  much  curiosity.  I  am  a  good 
fellow.  I  will  tell  you  what  you  want  to  know.  You 
will  not  give  it  away.  They  are  getting  ready  to 
cut  your  visit  pretty  short." 

There  was  the  chatter  of  voices  somewhere  out 
side  and  the  brazen  mutter  of  a  gong.  O'Shea  kept 
silence.  He  was  not  as  resigned  to  his  fate  as  Charley 
Tong  Sin  inferred.  He  was  watching  every  motion 
of  the  gloating  young  man  and  his  eyes  measured  the 
distance  between  them. 

"You  will  feel  better  if  you  know,"  tauntingly 
cried  the  Chinese.  "You  have  seen  the  Painted 
Joss.  You  have  seen  a  man  sitting  beside  it,  the 
great  and  terrible  Chung  himself,  the  ruler  of  the 
Pih-lien-Kiao,  the  Sect  of  the  Fatal  Obligation" 

"Much  obliged,  Charley,"  grimly  interrupted 
O'Shea.  "Tell  me  some  more.  I  am  sorry  I  could 
not  have  words  with  the  terrible  Chung.  And 
the  brand  that  ye  chop  into  people,  your  trade 
mark?" 

"  It  is  the  m^pk  that  means  The  Dreadful  Messenger 


410       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

of  Chung.  It  is  a  favor  to  tell  you,  Captain  O'Shea. 
No  other  foreigner,  no  Chinese  except  the  servants 
of  Chung,  have  heard  it  spoken.  But  you  will  not 
speak  it  anywhere." 

"There's  more  that  I  want  to  know,"  said  O'Shea, 
"though  precious  little  good  the  information  will 
do  me." 

"Ha!  Why  did  you  not  have  so  much  sense  be 
fore  and  mind  your  own  business?" 

It  was  absurd  to  carry  on  such  a  dialogue  as  this, 
as  O'Shea  perceived,  but  Charley  Tong  Sin  was  en 
joying  this  session  with  the  rash  shipmaster  who 
had  formerly  held  the  upper  hand.  Before  the  victim 
could  be  subjected  to  further  taunts  he  heard  the 
massive  doors  opened  and  other  sounds  to  indicate 
that  bars  were  sliding  into  place  to  fasten  them  on 
the  inside.  The  huge  man  in  the  crimson  robe,  the 
great  and  terrible  Chung,  lumbered  into  view  and 
seated  himself  in  the  chair  of  teak-wood.  Charley 
Tong  Sin  humbly  bowed  several  times.  The  per 
sonage  beckoned  the  twain  nearer  and  spoke  briefly. 
He  desired  to  conduct  a  cross-examination  of  his  own 
with  the  comprador  as  interpreter. 

"He  wishes  to  know  why  you  have  come  to  this 
place?"  was  the  first  question  addressed  to  O'Shea. 

"Because  ye  butchered  a  friend  of  mine,  a  red 
headed  sailor  by  the  name  of  Jim  Eldridge,"  was  the 
unflinching  reply.  "He  told  me  about  your  dirty 
devilment  as  well  as  he  could,  and  I  saw  what  ye 
did  to  him." 

The  huge  man  showed  signs  of  consternation  when 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  411 

this  was  conveyed  to  him.  He  uttered  a  bellowing 
interrogation. 

"He  is  not  alive?  You  have  talked  with  his 
ghost?  "  shrilly  demanded  Charley  Tong  Sin. 

"'Twas  him  that  sent  me  here,"  declared  O'Shea. 
"Ye  can  impart  it  to  the  big  ugly  mug  yonder  that 
I  have  had  visits  from  the  ghost  of  the  red-headed 
sailor  that  he  killed  and  branded." 

With  an  excited,  heedless  gesture,  Charley  Tong 
Sin  raised  the  revolver.  He  had  been  long  accus 
tomed  to  wearing  European  clothes,  and  the  flowing 
sleeves  of  his  Chinese  outer  garment  impeded  his 
motions.  A  fold  of  the  silk  fabric  fell  over  the  butt 
of  the  weapon,  and  he  tried  to  brush  it  aside  with  his 
left  hand.  This  other  sleeve  was  caught  and  held 
for  a  moment  by  the  sharp  firing-pin  of  the  cocked 
hammer. 

This  trifling  mishap,  gave  O'Shea  a  desperate 
opportunity.  With  a  flash  of  his  normal  agility  he 
leaped  across  the  intervening  space.  The  comprador 
strove  frantically  to  free  the  weapon,  but  only 
entangled  it  the  more.  The  episode  was  closed 
before  the  crimson-robed  personage  could  play  a  part. 
O'Shea's  shoulder  rammed  Charley  Tong  Sin  and 
sent  him  sprawling,  and  the  revolver  was  instantly 
wrested  from  his  grasp. 

"The  doors  are  locked,"  panted  O'Shea,  "and  be 
fore  your  men  break  in,  I  will  send  the  both  of  ye 
to  hell.  Sit  where  you  are,  ye  terrible  Chung.  You 
overplayed  your  game,  Charley." 

The   comprador    seemed    to    shrink   within    his 


412       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

clothes.  His  mouth  hung  open  and  his  face  was 
ashen.  He  was  eager  to  clutch  at  any  straw  which 
might  give  him  the  chance  of  life.  Shrinking  from 
the  scowling  presence  in  the  chair,  he  began  to  talk 
a  sing-song  babble  of  words  that  tumbled  over  each 
other. 

"I  will  help  you  get  away  alive  if  you  do  not 
kill  me.  Captain  O'Shea,  I  will  explain  about  Jim 
Eldridge;  I  will  not  lie  to  you.  All  the  secrets  I  will 
tell  you.  There  was  a  steamer,  the  Tai  Yan,  and 
she  came  over  the  bar  from  the  sea  in  a  big  storm, 
at  the  time  of  a  flood.  It  was  do  this  or  go  to  the 
bottom  because  the  engines  had  broke.  A  boat  with 
sailors  rowed  up  the  river.  They  were  foolish  men 
who  believed  the  stories  that  gold  and  silver  treasure 
was  hidden  in  the  rums  of  this  old  Wang-Li-Fu. 
And  they  found  this  temple,  and  they  knew  too 
much. 

"All  but  two  of  the  men  were  able  to  run  quick 
to  the  river,  but  Eldridge  and  one  named  McDou- 
gal  ran  into  this  place,  trying  to  hide.  They  ran 
into  the  temple  before  they  were  captured.  There 
was  a  little  building,  but  now  it  is  ashes  and  much 
sticks  of  burnt  wood.  In  that  building  those  two 
men  were  locked  to  be  killed  next  day.  The  red 
headed  man  was  a  demon,  I  tell  you.  Walls  could 
not  hold  him.  In  the  night  he  set  fire  to  the  building, 
and  it  was  a  great  blaze.  But  he  was  caught  and 
punished." 

"Ye  left  him  for  dead,  and  he  came  to,"  growled 
O'Shea.  "And  so  McDougal  got  away!" 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  413 

"I  can  tell  you  more  secrets,"  wailed  Charley 
Tong  Sin,  but  his  services  as  an  informer  were  sud 
denly  cut  short.  The  huge  man  in  the  chair  had 
raised  his  voice  in  a  tremendous  call  for  help  to  his 
followers  without.  Otherwise  he  had  sat  composed, 
glaring  at  O'Shea.  It  was  his  hand  that  slew  Charley 
Tong  Sin  as  a  traitor.  He  was  on  his  feet,  the  heavy 
chair  raised  aloft.  He  swung  it  with  amazing  ease. 
It  was  no  longer  a  massive  article  of  furniture,  but 
a  missile  in  the  hands  of  a  man  of  gigantic  strength. 
His  movements  were  not  clumsy. 

The  chair  flew  through  the  air.  O'Shea  dodged, 
but  Charley  Tong  Sin  flung  up  his  arms,  taken  un 
awares.  The  impact  would  have  brained  an  ox. 
The  whirling  mass  of  teak  smote  the  terrified  com 
prador  on  the  head  and  chest  and  he  crumpled  to 
the  pavement.  He  was  as  dead  as  though  he  had 
been  caught  beneath  the  hammer  of  a  pile-driver. 
The  tableau  was  an  extraordinary  one.  O'Shea 
stood  staring  at  the  broken  body  of  the  young 
Chinese.  The  man  in  the  crimson  robe  stirred  not 
from  his  tracks.  Implacable,  unafraid,  he  had  exe 
cuted  the  last  sentence  of  The  Sect  of  the  Fatal 
Obligation. 

The  people  outside  were  clamoring  at  the  doors, 
and  O'Shea  heard  the  thud  and  crash  of  some  kind  of 
an  improvised  battering-ram.  He  sighed  and  found 
the  thought  of  death  at  their  hands  very  bitter. 
But  he  would  not  go  alone.  He  faced  the  great  and 
terrible  Chung  and  slowly  raised  the  revolver. 

The  arch-assassin  bade  him  wait  with  a  gesture 


4I4       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

so  imperious,  so  mandatory,  that  O'Shea  hesitated. 
The  bearing  of  the  man  held  some  large  significance. 
His  dark,  evil  countenance  expressed  rather  sadness 
than  wrath.  He  slid  a  hand  into  the  folds  of  his  robe 
and  raised  the  hand  to  his  mouth.  Whatever  it  was 
that  he  swallowed  wrought  its  work  with  swift  and 
deadly  virulence.  Swaying  like  a  tree  about  to  fall, 
he  strode  to  the  marble  altar  and  fell  across  it  with 
his  head  buried  in  his  arms.  In  this  posture  he  died, 
in  front  of  the  image  of  the  glowing  Buddha,  whose 
graven  lineaments  seemed  to  express  the  unholy 
ambitions  and  emotions  of  his  own  soul. 

O'Shea  managed  to  walk  to  a  corner  of  the  temple 
and  slumped  down  upon  a  marble  bench  where  the 
Painted  Joss  cast  its  deepest  shadow.  His  strength 
had  ebbed  again.  Listlessly,  almost  inattentive,  he 
heard  the  assault  upon  the  doors  renewed  and  the 
splintering  of  plank.  When  the  Chinese  mob  came 
tumbling  in  he  could  try  to  shoot  straight  and  hit  a 
few  of  them,  and  then  they  would  close  in  on  him. 
It  was  the  end  of  the  game. 

A  few  minutes  and  the  servitors  of  Chung  came 
jostling  and  shouting  through  the  anteroom.  Then 
they  halted  abruptly.  Their  noise  was  hushed. 
The  light  that  fell  from  the  windows  near  the  roof 
showed  them  the  lifeless  figure  in  the  crimson  robe, 
doubled  across  the  marble  altar.  In  the  foreground 
lay  the  battered  body  of  Charley  Tong  Sin,  but  they 
had  eyes  only  for  the  tragedy  of  the  altar.  They 
stood  dumfounded,  like  men  in  the  presence  of 
something  incredible. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  415 

At  length  the  boldest  shuffled  forward.  The 
others  followed  timidly.  They  appeared  terrified  in 
the  extreme.  It  was  as  though  they  had  believed 
their  master  to  be  invulnerable.  And  he  was  dead. 
Possibly  they  conjectured  that  he  had  been  slain 
by  an  agency  more  than  mortal.  The  group  of 
Chinese  clustered  about  the  altar,  whispering,  regard 
ing  the  body  of  Chung.  Apparently  they  had  not 
bethought  themselves  of  the  foreigner  who  was  held 
a  prisoner  in  the  temple. 

O'Shea  rose  in  his  shadowy  corner  and  moved 
wearily  past  the  Painted  Joss.  It  was  better  to 
have  the  thing  finished.  He  came  upon  the  Chinese 
like  an  apparition.  Their  wits  were  so  fuddled  that 
the  sight  of  him  had  the  effect  of  another  shock.  If 
he  had  been  powerful  enough  to  slay  the  mighty 
Chung,  then  the  demons  were  his  allies.  Perceiving 
their  dazed  condition,  he  forebore  to  shoot,  and  ad 
vanced  abreast  of  the  altar.  The  path  to  the  door 
way  was  clear,  but  he  had  not  the  strength  to  make 
a  run  for  it.  The  hope  of  life,  miraculously  restored 
to  him,  was  in  the  possibility  that  they  might  stand 
and  gaze  at  him  a  little  longer. 

He  had  walked  a  half-dozen  steps  farther  when 
one  of  the  crowd  yelled.  The  spell  was  broken. 
They  raced  after  him  like  wolves.  He  turned  and 
steadied  himself  and  pulled  trigger  until  the  revolver 
was  empty.  The  onset  was  checked  and  thrown 
into  bloody  confusion.  O'Shea  had  summarily  con 
vinced  them  that  whether  or  not  the  demons  were 
in  league  with  him,  the  devil  was  in  this  ready 
weapon  of  his. 


4i 6       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

They  were  no  longer  massed  between  him  and  the 
exit,  and  for  the  moment  the  advantage  undeniably 
belonged  to  this  mysterious,  devastating  foreigner. 

He  stumbled  over  the  broken  timbers  of  the  doors 
and  was  in  the  blessed  daylight,  the  temple  behind 
him.  He  would  be  overtaken  ere  he  could  flee  the 
ruined  city,  but  he  reloaded  the  revolver  as  he  fol 
lowed  the  path  at  a  staggering  trot.  The  mob 
poured  out  of  the  temple,  yelping  in  high-keyed 
chorus.  As  a  foot-racer  the  hapless  Captain  Michael 
O'Shea  was  in  excessively  poor  condition.  In  fact, 
it  promised  to  be  the  easiest  kind  of  a  matter  to 
overtake  him  and  leisurely  pelt  him  to  death  with 
bricks  as  soon  as  he  should  have  expended  his 
ammunition. 

He  swerved  from  the  rough  path  and  crawled  to 
the  top  of  a  low  ridge  of  debris.  Standing  erect  for 
a  moment,  he  pitched  forward  and  fell  against  a  bit 
of  wall.  His  figure  had  been  outlined  against  the 
sky,  and  it  was  discerned  in  a  fleeting  glimpse  by  a 
scattered  band  of  men  in  khaki  and  linen  clothes  who 
were  tramping  the  marsh.  They  raised  a  shout  and 
rushed  toward  the  ruined  city,  converging  until  the 
force  was  mobilized  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
prostrate  O'Shea. 

The  Chinese  mob,  pursuing  full- tilt,  found  itself 
confronting  a  score  and  more  of  rifles  which  enthu 
siastically  opened  fire  until  the  air  hummed  with  bul 
lets.  There  was  a  hasty,  unanimous  retreat  of  the 
followers  of  Chung  to  the  temple  and  the  adjacent 
buildings.  Major  Bannister  halted  to  bend  over 
O'Shea  and  say: 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  417 

"We  thought  you  were  drowned  or  bogged  in  the 
marsh.  What  sort  of  a  rumpus  is  this?  " 

"The  Painted  Joss,"  murmured  O'Shea.  " I  found 
it.  Don't  bother  with  me.  Go  to  it  and  clean  out 
the  place." 

The  adventurers,  at  last  earning  their  wages,  pro 
ceeded  to  make  things  most  unpleasant  for  the  house 
hold  of  Chung.  The  resistance  was  brief,  and  those 
who  were  not  penned  within  the  temple  fled  in  panic 
and  sought  cover  in  the  marsh.  They  were  taken 
by  surprise,  for  the  community  had  found  the  visit 
of  Captain  O'Shea  sufficient  to  engage  its  attention. 
To  him  returned  Major  Bannister,  hot  and  dusty, 
his  cheek  bleeding  from  the  cut  of  a  Chinese  sword, 
and  smilingly  announced: 

"Bully  good  fun  while  it  lasted.  What  shall  I  do 
with  the  devils  we  cornered?  Take  them  out  and 
shoot  them?" 

"  No.  The  boss  of  the  works  is  dead.  And  I  have 
a  notion  that  The  Sect  of  the  Fatal  Obligation  died 
with  him.  Lug  me  to  the  temple,  if  ye  please. 
I'm  all  in,  but  'tis  my  wish  to  see  the  whole  wicked 
business  go  up  in  smoke." 

Before  the  torch  was  applied,  that  experienced  man 
of  war,  Major  Bannister,  suggested  that  he  had  never 
seen  a  more  promising  place  in  which  to  poke  about 
for  loot.  The  search  amounted  to  nothing  until  it 
occurred  to  the  major  to  pull  the  Painted  Joss  from 
off  its  pedestal.  After  much  heaving  and  prying  the 
great  image  fell  crashing  to  the  pavement  of  the  tem 
ple.  Investigation  revealed  that  underneath  it  were 


41 8       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

several  compartments  accessible  by  means  of  cun 
ningly  fitted  panels.  Many  papers  or  documents 
were  found,  wrapped  in  silk,  and  it  was  assumed  that 
these  were  the  records  of  the  black  deeds  of  Chung 
and  his  organized  murderers.  They  were  thrown 
aside,  to  be  bundled  together  and  taken  to  the  boats. 

It  was  the  astute  Major  Bannister  who  smashed 
the  bottom  of  one  of  these  compartments  with  a  rifle- 
butt  and  rammed  his  hand  through  the  splintered 
hole.  His  groping  fingers  came  in  contact  with 
closely  packed  rows  of  metal  bars.  In  this  manner 
was  discovered  the  wealth  of  the  temple,  the  blood- 
money  stored  and  treasured  by  the  infamous  Chung, 
the  price  of  many  assassinations. 

The  gold  was  in  stamped  ingots,  the  silver  in  the 
lumps  or  "shoes"  of  the  clumsy  Chinese  currency, 
and  there  were  baskets  of  English  sovereigns,  Mexi 
can  dollars,  and  a  variety  of  the  coinages  which  pass 
over  the  counters  of  the  money-changers  of  the  Ori 
ent.  Murder  as  a  business  had  paid  well.  The  Sect 
of  the  Fatal  Obligation  was  a  flourishing  concern. 
The  loot  belonged  to  those  who  found  it.  They  were 
troubled  by  no  scruples  respecting  the  heirs  of  the 
departed  Chung,  nor  did  they  consider  it  their  duty 
to  surrender  the  spoils  to  the  Chinese  government. 

That  night  a  conflagration  reddened  the  ruins  of 
the  dead  city  of  Wang-Li-Fu.  It  was  the  pyre  of 
the  Painted  Joss.  And  when  the  little  flotilla  again 
moved  up-river  early  next  morning,  a  cloud  of 
smoke  rose  lazily  in  the  still  air.  Captain  Michael 
O'Shea  was  still  alive,  which  was  rather  surprising, 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  419 

for  he  had  passed  through  experiences  extremely 
disturbing  to  a  sick  man.  There  was  tonic,  however, 
in  the  fact  that  he  had  redeemed  his  failure,  the  ex 
pedition  was  no  longer  a  sorry  jest,  and  the  account 
of  Bill  Maguire  had  been  squared. 

He  slept  with  tremendous  earnestness  through  a 
night  and  a  day,  and  when  he  awoke  it  was  to  roar  for 
food  and  to  display  the  peevish  temper  of  a  genuine 
convalescent.  When  off  duty  his  comrades  became 
absorbed  in  the  odd  occupation  of  arranging  piles  of 
gold  bars,  silver  "shoes,"  and  minted  coins  on  the 
deck  of  the  little  house-boat,  like  children  playing 
with  blocks.  They  smiled  a  great  deal  and  talked  to 
themselves.  Captain  O'Shea  looked  on  with  an  air 
of  fatherly  interest.  After  all,  this  happy  family  of 
his  had  made  a  prosperous  voyage  of  it.  Dreams  of 
rehabilitation  cheered  these  broken  wanderers.  They 
would  go  home.  No  more  for  them  the  misery,  the 
heartache,  the  humiliation  of  the  tropical  tramp. 
Their  riches  might  slip  through  their  fingers,  but  they 
would  make  the  most  of  golden  opportunity.  Like 
poor  McDougal,  they  had  thrown  all  regrets  away. 

"'Tis  share  and  share  alike,"  said  O'Shea,  "but 
there  is  a  red-headed  sailor-man  at  anchor  on  a  farm 
in  Maine  and  I  think  he  has  a  wife  somewheres. 
With  your  permission  we  will  deal  him  a  share  of 
the  plunder.  'Twas  poor  Bill  Maguire  that  gave  us 
the  tip." 

Unmindful  of  labor  and  hardship,  this  contented 
company  slowly  journeyed  to  the  head  of  navigation 
on  the  River  of  Ten  Thousand  Evil  Smells  and  then 


420       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

trudged  overland  while  O'Shea  rode  in  a  covered 
chair  and  sang  old  sea-chanties  in  a  'mellow  voice. 
When,  at  length,  the  English  mission  station  was 
reached  it  was  stretching  the  truth  to  call  him  an 
invalid.  The  senior  missionary,  a  gentle,  very  wise 
old  man  who  had  lived  for  thirty  years  in  the  back 
country,  heard  the  tale  told  by  these  tanned,  ragged 
travellers  and  was  horrified  that  such  things  should 
have  existed.  But  he  had  news  for  them,  and  it  was 
thus  that  he  supplied  a  missing  fragment  of  the 
puzzle  of  Bill  Maguire: 

"The  man  came  here  and  we  took  care  of  him. 
But  there  was  no  finding  out  how  he  had  been  so 
frightfully  hurt.  He  was  dumb  and  stupid.  Later 
I  met  a  native  boatman  who  had  found  him  on  the 
river-bank  near  Wang-Li-Fu.  Evidently  he  had  been 
thrown  into  the  water  as  an  easy  way  to  get  rid  of 
the  body.  Reviving  a  little,  he  splashed  his  way 
ashore  or  the  tide  left  him  there.  He  stayed  with 
us  until  he  was  fairly  strong  and  one  morning  he  was 
gone." 

"And  did  he  set  the  house  afire?  "  inquired  O'Shea. 

"Why,  there  were  two  accidental  fires  hi  the  com 
pound  at  that  time,  but  we  laid  it  to  the  carelessness 
of  the  kitchen  coolies,"  was  the  innocent  reply. 

"It  was  Bill  Maguire,  all  right,"  declared  O'Shea. 
"Now,  will  ye  be  good  enough  to  look  over  the 
Chinese  documents  we  found  hid  away  under  the 
Painted  Joss?" 

The  missionary  pored  over  the  papers  for  several 
hours.  And  his  painstaking  translation  revealed  all 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  421 

that  O'Shea  cared  to  know  concerning  the  operations 
of  The  Sect  of  the  Fatal  Obligation.  It  had  worked 
in  secret  to  remove  enemies  for  a  price.  If  a  mer 
chant  wished  a  business  rival  obliterated,  if  an  official 
found  others  in  his  way,  if  it  was  advantageous  to 
create  a  vacancy  in  some  other  quarter,  the  murder 
guild  directed  by  the  departed  Chung  would  trans 
act  the  affair,  smoothly,  without  bungling.  And 
those  who  knew  and  would  have  disclosed  the  secret 
were  frightened  into  silence  by  the  sight  of  the  brand 
that  was  called  The  Dreadful  Messenger  of  Chung. 

"It  will  interest  you  to  learn,  as  an  American, 
Captain  O'Shea,"  said  the  missionary,  "that  among 
these  documents  is  a  list  of  persons  proscribed  or 
sentenced  to  be  slain.  The  most  conspicuous  name 
I  find  to  be  that  of  the  Chinese  ambassador  to  the 
United  States,  His  Excellency  Hao  Su  Ting.  It  is 
probable  that  this  terrible  fate  would  have  awaited 
him  upon  his  return  to  his  own  country." 

"They  potted  his  brother,"  exclaimed  O'Shea. 
"And  he  was  sick  with  fear  of  the  thing,  for  I  talked 
it  over  with  him  meself.  Well,  he  can  thank  Bill 
Maguire  for  letting  him  die  in  his  bed  when  his 
proper  time  comes." 

Three  weeks  later  Captain  O'Shea  sat  at  his  ease 
upon  the  piazza  of  the  Grand  Hotel,  that  overlooks 
Yokohama  Bay.  He  was  thinner  than  when  he  had 
put  to  sea  hi  the  Whang  Ho  steamer,  but  he  appeared 
to  find  the  game  of  life  quite  worth  while.  It  was 
his  pleasure  to  enjoy  the  tame  diversions  of  a  tourist 
before  boarding  a  mail-boat  for  the  long  run  home 


422       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

-/ 

to  San  Francisco.  He  smiled  as  he  reread  a  letter 
written  in  the  crabbed  fist  of  that  zealous  agricultur 
ist,  Johnny  Kent,  who  had  this  to  say: 

DEAR  CAPTAIN  MIKE: 

The  Lord  only  knows  what  trouble  you'll  be  in  when  this 
gets  to  China.  My  advice  is  to  quit  it  and  come  home. 
I'm  worried  about  you.  Bill  Maguire  has  rounded  to,  under 
stand?  His  busted  main  hatch  sort  of  mended  itself  by  de 
grees.  He  had  symptoms  before  you  left,  and  you  ought  to 
have  waited,  but  I  suppose  you  can't  help  being  young  and 
Irish. 

He  was  terrible  melancholy  at  first,  and  he  ain't  real  spry 
yet.  I  found  his  wife  and  little  girl  for  him  in  Baltimore, 
and  made  them  come  on  here.  You  guessed  right  about  the 
wax  doll.  I  bought  the  darndest,  biggest  one  I  could  find. 
Bill  feels  that  the  family  is  living  on  my  charity,  and  being 
morbid  and  down-hearted,  he  frets  a  whole  lot  about  being 
broke  and  stranded.  He'll  be  no  good  to  go  to  sea  again. 
It  gives  him  the  shivers  to  talk  about  it.  I  don't  need  him 
as  a  farm-hand  in  the  winter,  and  as  for  having  his  wife  as  a 
steady  house-keeper,  I'm  fussy  and  set  in  my  ways. 

Bill  got  up  against  an  awful  bad  combination  in  China.  I 
won't  tell  you  where  it  was,  for  I  don't  want  you  to  find  it. 
Maybe  you'll  run  across  a  man  named  McDougal  out  there. 
He  was  with  Bill  when  they  got  in  trouble.  Bill  saw  a  chance 
to  get  away  in  the  night,  but  he  stood  the  crowd  off  somehow 
to  give  McDougal  leeway  to  join  him.  And  this  McDougal 
lit  out  with  never  a  thought  for  Bill.  There  was  something 
wrong  with  McDougal,  as  I  figure  it  out.  Maybe  he  was  a 
good  man,  but  here  was  one  time  when  he  fell  down  on  his 
job.  None  of  us  say  much  about  it,  Captain  Mike,  but  we 
all  pray  we  won't  get  caught  that  way.  You  know  what  I 
mean.  We're  afraid  there  may  be  a  weak  spot  in  us  that 
we  don't  know  is  there  until  we  have  to  face  the  music. 
Anyhow,  as  I  gather  from  Bill,  McDougal  was  a  quitter. 


THE  BRANDED   MAN  423 

If  I  know  anything  about  men,  he  has  wished  a  hundred 
times  since  that  he  had  stayed  to  take  his  medicine  with 
Bill.  We  would  a  heap  sight  rather  see  you  come  home  alive 
than  to  go  monkeying  with  the  Painted  Joss.  Nothing 
much  has  happened  except  a  dry  spell  in  August  and  corn 
and  potatoes  set  back.  Hens  are  laying  well. 

Your  friend, 

J.  KENT. 

Captain  O'Shea  chuckled  and  then  became  thought 
ful.  Paddy  .Blake  and  McDougal.  Charley  Tong 
Sin  and  the  wreck  of  the  Whang  Ho.  Wang-Li-Fu 
and  the  terrible  Chung.  Much  can  happen  within 
the  space  of  a  few  weeks  to  a  man  that  will  seek  the 
long  trail.  Presently  he  took  from  his  leather  bill- 
book  several  slips  of  paper  which  he  had  received 
from  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank  in  exchange  for  his 
gold  bars  and  silver  "shoes."  After  making  sundry 
calculations  with  a  pencil,  he  said  to  himself: 

"The  share  of  Jim  Eldridge,  alias  Bill  Maguire,  is 
nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two  dollars 
and  eleven  cents,  and  'tis  here  all  ship-shape  in  two 
drafts  on  New  York.  My  piece  of  the  loot  is  the 
same.  But  the  red-headed  sailorman  will  never  be 
the  lad  he  was,  and  he  should  not  be  worried  by  the 
lack  of  money  to  live  on.  And  could  any  money 
pay  for  what  he  went  through?  'Tis  easy  to  know 
what  I  should  do.  I  will  not  take  a  cent  of  the 
plunder.  My  share  I  will  give  to  Bill,  and  with  his 
bit  of  it  he  will  be  comfortably  fixed." 

An  expression  of  boyish  satisfaction  brightened  his 
resolute  features  as  he  added: 


424       ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  O'SHEA 

"A  man  would  be  ashamed  to  take  money  for  such 
a  pleasant  vacation  as  this  one  has  been.  Now,  I 
will  send  a  cable  message  to  Bill  Maguire  and  it  will 
cheer  him  a  lot.  His  account  is  squared.  And  I 
think  I  have  put  a  crimp  in  The  Sect  of  the  Fatal 
Obligation" 

THE   END 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000662025    6 


